


Dragon Son

by Picco_Han



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: M/M, city destruction, nonconsensual magic usage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-18 19:38:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 49,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8173522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Picco_Han/pseuds/Picco_Han
Summary: The price of being the strongest. Gohan becomes the host of a dragon's spirit to grant a wish by people out to destroy the Saiyans. He has to find a way to cancel the wish before his life and soul become void or before he destroys the Earth with his power going out of control. (Piccohan, Videl Friendship)





	1. Wish

**Author's Note:**

> Tags will be updated as the story progresses, I think I've tagged everything so far though. 
> 
> This is my first fic I've written in a really long time, I started re-watching DB and DBZ and felt inspired! I've even started a dbz tumblr! (queerdragonball) 
> 
> No lady character bashing (or any bashing) 
> 
> No Beta!! Sorry don't have any friends in this fandom yet haha! I tried the catch all the mistakes though.

“Thanks for waiting!” 

Gohan looked up and smiled as Videl flew down to join him on the ground. It was their winter break from school and everything was covered with snow. It was hard to believe that only a few months ago the whole world had been destroyed by Buu, that they had all died except his father, Vegeta and Mr. Satan. 

“It’s no problem, why did you want to meet all the way out here? I thought you wanted to do christmas shopping?” Gohan looked around at the nature surrounding them. No stores. He had been happy they were still friends, after Buu things had been ... emotional and both he and Videl decided they weren’t ready to pursue anything. She had gone back to training at her father’s center and he ... he didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing. He should train to be stronger. Finish school and become a scholar. 

He remembered seeing the halo about his little brother’s head. 

“You’ve been down lately.” The girl interrupted his thoughts and he looked over at her. “I thought we could train together or something.”

“You really would get along with my father if training sounds like a good time to you.” Gohan laughed but started taking off his jacket, he knew better than to argue with her at this point. “But that does seem like a good idea. Normally you don’t beat around the bush for some training.”

“Well I know training with me is nothing to what you can really do.” Videl huffed throwing her jacket and scarf onto the snow. She grinned at him. “But the boys at dad’s dojo can’t keep up with me at all. Plus if you keep your face in the books maybe I’ll catch up!” And then she ran at him and Gohan dodged. They kept the fight on the ground, her balance while flying wasn’t as good as it could be yet. She definitely had improved and she had been better at keeping up with the Saiyaman act than he was, though he knew it would help if he moved into town. He did enjoy that persona a lot. 

“Gohan, why don’t you train like the rest of your friends?” Videl’s question caught him off guard and he fell back into the snow while dodging a kick. He looked up at her surprised. 

“What do you mean?” He took the hand she offered to pull him up. 

“I mean ... well.” Videl side-eyed him. “Your friends, your dad. They’re always training and you aren’t. I don’t understand it. I mean I know you’re strong, and I heard a few of them say you’re actually stronger than anyone else but ...”

“I don’t like fighting.” Gohan smiled softly and she looked at him surprised. 

“Is that why you didn’t want to join the tournament? Not because of your identity?” She punched at him again. 

“A little.” Gohan shrugged before throwing a few punches her way forcing her to move back. 

“What about Saiyaman?” She kicked and he jumped over it. “You love being Saiyaman.”

“That’s not really fighting. Well I guess its crime fighting.” He laughed as she rolled her eyes. “But ... It’s different. I’ve never wanted to fight, I’ve always had to. To protect my family and my friends. And I don’t want to get stronger.” 

“What?” Videl stopped and Gohan accidently kicked her in the stomach sending her to the ground. 

“Videl are you okay?” Gohan ran over and helped her up as she shook it off. 

“I’m fine, you’re always going easy on me.” She huffed. “Explain yourself.”

He weighed his options. “Every time I get stronger ... I make mistakes and people get hurt because of it. I don’t know if it’s my Saiyan blood or something else but I get cocky and-” He watches terrified as his father takes Cell away before he can explode and destroy the planet. “And people die because of my mistakes. I...”

“Isn’t that why you train?” Videl crossed her arms in front of her. Gohan shook his head. 

“Videl, when I was 4 years old I had more power than anyone could imagine but I couldn’t access it freely. It was brought on by my emotions and I was trained by Piccolo to help fight and he still died protecting me. Then on Namek, after all that training I still barely helped at all and Krillin died. Piccolo almost died again.” Gohan clenched his fists. “I train and become stronger and then people die. I ... when I was 11 I had to fight Cell and I had so many chances to take him down but I didn’t because I wanted him to feel pain. I wanted him to know what he had done to people and because of that, my toying with him, my father died and I didn’t get to see him again for seven years. Goten didn’t get to know his own father ... I ...” He started when Videl put her hands over his clenched fists, smoothing his hands out so his nails weren’t biting into his palms. 

“Gohan...”

“With Buu so many people had their faith in me, I even got a power boost.” He looked at her dark skinned hand next to his pale one. “It was the first time I’ve ever died.”

“Only your group would think dying more than once was normal.” Videl mumbled before making him meet her eyes. “Gohan that’s what training is for. You’re going to make mistakes. Your dad will, my dad does all the time and so we train.” She smiled. “So that we can get stronger and maybe we’ll be there to catch them when they fall. All those other times you were still a kid. There was a lot of pressure on you. I would say I could relate but I think most people were surprised I followed my dad’s footsteps at all.” She shrugged pulling away. “If you’re as strong as you say you are, which I know you are. Then I think you have to stay in the game.”

“I don’t want to fight.” He looked at the ground. 

“You don’t need to fight.” She reached down and grab her jacket. “Just train. Train between your studying, I know you could do it and keep your perfect grades. You are your mother’s son.” She smiled wrapping the scarf around her neck. “Train so that if there ever is a moment in the future where the world needs you to fight, to use your impossible power. That you’ll be ready for it and not sitting there regretting the path you’ve chosen wishing you had kept on training. This might seem silly coming from me but as your friend - that’s my advice.”

“Don’t fight, just train?” Gohan grinned picking his jacket up. He knew she was right, that if anything happened in the future and he had a chance to step in a save the day but couldn’t because of his lack of training, he would regret it so much. “That’s pretty good advice.”

“I know.” Videl stuck out her tongue before grabbing her cell phone. “Want to join me for christmas shopping with Erasa? Sharpner will probably show up knowing him.” 

“Sure.” Gohan put his jacket on before stopping. “Actually you know what, I’m going to pass. I’ll see you guys next week for Erasa’s christmas karaoke though.” 

“Oh what are you doing now?” Videl crossed her arms. 

“Listening to your advice.” Gohan laughed flying up. “Gonna see a friend.”

“Tell Piccolo hi.” Videl teased before flying away. 

“How’d she know I was going to see Mr. Piccolo?” Gohan watched her go, he shook his head before feeling out his friend’s energy and heading that way. It seemed Piccolo had went out to warmer climates, it was a bit of a flight but Gohan found him surrounded by desert. He grinned at the sight of the Namekian, regretting his jacket because it felt so much warmer.

“Gohan.” Piccolo opened up an eye to watch the teen struggle with getting his jacket off. 

“Hey Mr.Piccolo!” Gohan laughed, finally getting his jacket off and holding it under his arm. “Um, this might seem out of the blue but I was wondering ... if you’d want to help me train again?”

Piccolo opened both his eyes now to look at the teen. “You want to train?”

“With you.” Gohan scratched the back of his head looking away. “I just got some good advice from a friend.”

“Which was? If I may ask?” Piccolo unfolded from his meditative stance. 

“That I could still be a scholar but also be ready for a fight if I’m ever needed.” Gohan looked over at Piccolo. “Every battle I’ve always fought has ended with regrets and I’d like that to change. I may not want to fight but I’d rather not have regrets.”

“Sounds like a smart friend.” Piccolo smirked, he knew what Gohan was talking about. Gohan had been involved in their largest battles since he was 4 years old. “I’m not going to go easy on you, you sure you don’t want to ask your dad?” 

“My father would be too soft on me.” Gohan grinned and got a fanged grin back from the other man. “I’ve got time now if you want-” He ducked as a green fist came his way, throwing his jacket on the sand below before blocking a kick. 

“Let’s begin.” Piccolo laughed. 

Gohan was nearly dazed at the sound he hadn’t heard in a long time. This was definitely a good decision, he would have to thank Videl later. 

Now he had a Namekian to fight and wonder why butterflies were forming in his stomach. 

XXX

“Sir we’re going to have to find another way.” Toro, a short orange alien bowed to his superior. “The Namekians seem to have ties to the Saiyans and the Earth and I do not think we can convince them to join our cause.”

“Hrmph.” A taller pink alien looked forward at the screen. “Is there a way to get the use of their dragon balls without their cooperation?”

“No sir, not without resorting to a fight.” Toro kept his head bowed. 

The pink alien sighed. “That’s fine, we do not want to damage the Namekians after they’ve been through so much. They aren’t a warrior race, it wouldn’t be any fun. We’ll go to earth instead.”

“But sir! Prince Maguro you can’t-” Toro stood to argue. 

“Hush Toro.” Maguro narrowed his eyes at the picture of Earth that appeared on the screen. “We will go to Earth. We will get our own dragon and we will destroy the Saiyans for what they have done to our people.” 

Toro hesitated before bowing again. “Yessir.”

“Get me Akami and Aji. We’ll need their help.”

XXX

Dende stared at the cup of water that shattered on the floor. He looked over to Mr.Popo who was looking at it surprised. 

“Dende are you alright?” The other being went over and pulled him away from the mess on the floor. “I’ll clean it up.”

“No I’m fine Mr.Popo.” Dende smiled at his friend before frowning. “It was just, the strangest feeling came over me just now. I’m sorry about the mess.”

“It’s alright, you go get some rest. You might be the Guardian of the Earth but you are still young.” Mr. Popo pushed the Namekian toward the house. 

“Not as young as when I started.” Dende laughed but decided it would be a good idea to meditate in his room for a little while. He hadn’t had a feeling like that before, was it a warning? Or something else? He needed to think about it and maybe look to the library for answers if he could not find any inside himself. 

XXX

Gohan laughed taking another drink from Sharpner and leaning back on his chair to some of his classmates. “Seriously though and then he -”

Videl narrowed her eyes before looking over at Sharpner who looked a little flushed himself and a few of the other kids at the party. Erasa had currently taken over singing most of the karaoke songs herself after Gohan had tried and ... it had been pretty awful. Everyone was thankful for the break in that. “Sharpner, does Gohan know he’s drinking alcholol?”

“Yeah, I told him one drink was fine.” The blonde laughed. “Of course now he won’t stop talking about some guy who taught him martial arts, he used to be surrounded by girls.”

“How many drinks did you give him?” Videl crossed her eyes. She had been running late and wanted to make her rounds talking with everyone before she got to Gohan, but now the teen was obviously drunk. 

“I don’t know .. four?” The man looked at his own glass before leering at the girls beside him who were loving his attention. “You girls will make sure I get home safe tonight right?”

“Of course Sharpner!” The girls squealed before making suggestions of other places they could go. 

“Seriously Videl, he won’t shut up about this guy named Pickle.” One of the girls, Pensa, leaned forward frowning. “I see why you two didn’t work out.”

“Oh for the love of, Mr.Piccolo is Gohan’s longest friend and they just started hanging out more again.” Videl waved them off. “You guys are just upset you couldn’t get his attention tonight.” Videl walked over and sat beside Gohan with a huff. The two nerdy guys next to him gave her a thankful look before making a hasty retreat.

“Videl!” Gohan grinned at her. “Did you hear me sing?”

“Yeah you should use that as one of your Saiyaman attacks.” Videl teased taking his glass away and taking a sip, it was pretty strong. She had to wonder how he didn’t notice. “You do realize you’re drinking alcohol right?”

“It was just one drink.” Gohan leaned back looking a little sleepy. “I was telling those guys about how Mr.Piccolo taught me martial arts.” The people he pointed at were not the ones he had been talking to earlier. “It’s been great training with him again, thank you Videl.”

“For what?” She grinned. 

“Telling me to go back to training. I didn’t realize ... I don’t know. I guess it’s what I needed to hear and honestly I think I didn’t realize how much I had pushed Mr.Piccolo away because of not wanting to fight. I’m glad he’s back.” He hiccuped and Videl ruffled his hair. “I missed him.”

“Well I am pretty smart.” Videl put his cup on the table and handed him some water. “Drink this, you can’t go home like that.” He took the cup without argument. 

“But seriously I forgot what it felt like training with him.” Gohan took a sip of water, staring at the music video playing on one of the many tvs in the room. “It’s nice, he’s my best friend. Training with him makes me feel great and there’s this fluttering ...”

“Fluttering?” Videl leaned against him so she could hear him better over the volume. 

“Yeah and I feel warm all over and it’s great. I missed it.” Gohan smiled at her. “So thanks.” 

“You do realize that kinda makes you sound like you love him.” Videl whispered a little confused. 

“I do.” Gohan grinned before standing up. “I should probably head out. It’s really hot in here.” 

“I’ll come too.” Videl stood up, her heart racing. Did Gohan know what he just said? She turned to the room. “Hey guys! We’re leaving, Merry Christmas!!”

“Merry Christmas!!” Their classmates shouted back with a laugh, and laughed even more when Gohan stumbled out of the room missing his step on the stairs. 

“I think Sharpner gave me more than one drink.” Gohan sighed not putting on his jacket even though it was snowing. 

“Yeah he definitely did. Are you going to be okay to make it home?” Videl frowned at her friend. “I don’t want to go home yet so let me fly you to the edge of the city at least.”

“Okay.” Gohan grinned. “Thanks Videl.”

“I think if you kept talking about Mr.Piccolo in there, everyone was going to demand you bring him to the next event.” Videl teased watching him closely. The blush that appeared on his face that was from more than just alcohol. With the city lights moving underneath the both of them she couldn’t help but feel like she wasn’t the one that should be seeing these sites with her friend. “Gohan in the karaoke place ... you said you loved Mr.Piccolo.”

“Did I?” The man’s flying wobbled a bit and his face was turning a nice dark shade of red. “Well I mean I do love him, he’s my best friend.”

“What you described, like with the butterflies in your stomach. Isn’t that something that happens when you have a crush on someone?” Videl countered. “Feeling warm?”

“Mr.Piccolo has always made me feel that way.” Gohan closed his eyes feeling the cold against his face, it was definitely helping. 

“I think you’re in love with Mr.Piccolo.” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud but once she had Gohan had stopped flying, so she stopped too. Worried that maybe they shouldn’t be flying while he was drunk. “Are you okay?”

“It just ...” Gohan looked up at the sky. “I was in love with Mr.Piccolo but I was just a kid and I guess I pushed it back because there’s nothing that can happen with it. I’m really embarrassed I kept talking about him tonight. I’ll have to not let Sharpner talk me into things so easily.”

“What do you mean you pushed it back?” Videl shivered as the snow came down. 

“It wouldn’t work out.” Gohan frowned wrapping his arms around himself. “I think I’m going to go home now. I’ll see you later.”

“Call me when you make it home safe.” Videl called after the retreating form. She waited until she couldn’t see him before making her way home. Maybe she shouldn’t have pushed it right then, Gohan obviously had feelings for his friend but didn’t think they would ever be returned. She tried to think of what she remembered of Mr.Piccolo when they met. He was distant and grumpy but he had been good with Goten and Trunks, training them for the fight with Buu. He had mourned Gohan’s death with the rest of them, she had overheard the others talking about it. How happy the Namekian had looked when it was all over and Gohan was alive. 

There was nothing she could do for those two though, she sighed. Maybe she could give Gohan a boost to at least confess, it was important to know for a fact. No What ifs. 

She smiled flying down to her house and seeing her dad watching tv in the room with Buu. And if things didn’t work out she knew Mr.Piccolo still cared for Gohan so maybe they could still be friends. She wondered idly if this meant she was giving up on the chance of her and Gohan ever happening again but she shook her head with a blush, she would see how things went with those two first. 

XXX

Gohan leaned back to take a breath of air as the cold water from the waterfall poured over the both of them. He pulled the purple gi in his hands closer even though their bodies were already pressed against each other, he wanted - no - needed more. He couldn’t believe this was happening or even remember how it started but he felt like his heart was going to burst if he thought about it too much. 

“Gohan.” Piccolo’s deep voice sent shivers down the teen’s spine. The Namekian had one hand on the back of Gohan’s neck and one hand lifting up the half-Saiyan’s leg to wrap it around his waist and Gohan followed through with his other leg, this was so much better. Piccolo was so smart, Gohan couldn’t help but grin as the other man pulled his head forward for a kiss. He met him eagerly. 

Piccolo’s hand was warm compared to the water pouring over the both of them, Gohan wondered if it was the water giving him goosebumps or what they were doing. He growled eagerly finally undoing Piccolo’s belt and throwing it before working his way on the man’s top, he couldn’t get it off without ripping it so he pushed it up and pressed his hands against the hard flesh and smooth skin underneath. Gohan opened his eyes as Piccolo moved to kissing his neck, he let out a groan when the man started nipping and sucking against his throat. Gohan thrust his hips against the hard body in front of him and moved his hands to Piccolo’s back trying to keep him close. He didn’t want this to end. 

It was overwhelming but not enough, not after all this time. His whole body was shaking, he needed more. Anything. Everything Piccolo was willing to give. “M-mr. Piccolo.” He let out a huff of air and the other man’s hands went to his ass keeping Gohan’s hips grinding at a steady pace. He felt close but at the same time wanted this to go on. Piccolo found his lips again and brought him into a bruising kiss. 

Gohan moved his hands to Piccolo’s pants- 

“GOHAN WAKE UP!” Gohan opened his eyes to see Goten’s face right in front of him laughing. He sat up making his younger brother roll away. “Are you okay you were making weird noises?”

Gohan felt like his entire body was on fire. His head and mouth felt fuzzy but he was warm and he could tell he was moving slower than he should. How much had Sharpner given him to drink? Then he thought about Goten just said. 

“I’M FINE!” He screeched a little higher than necessary. It had been a dream, it had been a wonderful amazing dream. It hadn’t been real. He put his hands over his face - it had been so real. He hadn’t had a dream like that in- 

And now he had a morning problem to deal with, he hung his head with a groan. 

“Gohan?” Goten was staring up at him looking a little worried. 

“I’m fine Goten.” Gohan smiled nudging his little brother with his foot getting a laugh. “I’m going to go to the bathroom and then I’ll be down for breakfast.”

“Okay!” Goten jumped up happily and ran out of the room. Gohan sighed running a hand through his hair, he moved his other hand to his lips. He hadn’t had a dream like that in a while, he sighed - it was Videl’s fault he just knew it. 

After going to the bathroom for some relief and changing out of his pajamas Gohan walked down the stairs and peeked to see both Goten and their father eating at the table and his mother in the kitchen. He smiled. Gohan was so happy that Goku had been given a life during the whole Buu ordeal, it was nice having his father around. It had been too long without him, even his mother’s mood had become more relaxed with their father home. And it was nice to have Goten get to know their father. 

“Gohan what’cha hiding for?” Goku waived at his son causing Gohan to laugh and come into the room.

“Just thinking!” Gohan admitted sitting down to grab food.

“What are you thinking about son?” Chichi handed him a bowl of rice before taking a seat herself. She smiled delighted watching her boys eat. “Also don’t think I didn’t notice how late you came home last night or the smell of alcohol. I know I’ve raised you better than that. You and your classmates are still underage!”

“Sorry mother.” Gohan bowed his head apologetically. 

“It’s okay, I’m just glad you made it home safe. Videl called this morning to check in on you.” Chichi went back to the kitchen and Gohan realized he had never called the girl when he got home. “She’s such a nice girl, it’s such a shame you didn’t work out but there’s always time.” 

“We’re still friends.” Gohan mumbled getting the food. “What are the plans for today?” 

“Goku and I are going shopping, you two need to go over to Bulma’s later. We all need to be there for dinner tonight.” Chichi sat at the table and started eating. That’s right, Bulma was having a small christmas party with just friends, probably with presents. Gohan thought about going to get one for her but he had no idea where to start. 

“Can we go early so I can play with Trunks?” Goten whispered over to his brother even tho everyone could hear him. Gohan laughed. 

“I’ll call Bulma first to make sure it’s okay.” He offered causing his little brother to cheer before going back to eating. Gohan let his mind wonder as he ate, if everyone was going to be busy maybe he could see what Piccolo was up to - Gohan flushed remembering his dream and shook his head. It was probably best not to go near the other man today. He needed to push it away, why did Videl have to say that stuff last night?

He knew he loved Piccolo but he also knew Piccolo wouldn’t return his feelings the same way. They cared about each other but ... not like that. Plus his mother wanted grandchildren and Gohan was pretty sure Piccolo wasn’t planning on hatching any ... ever. And Gohan had to admit he wanted kids himself but ... he would be okay without them. 

He would be happy with anything Piccolo would give him.

“Gohan?” Gohan jumped and caught his bowl before it fell of the table. He looked around and noticed his family was staring at him. 

“You looked upset, are you okay?” Chichi put her hand over his and she smiled at her. 

“Yeah, I’m never drinking again.” He offered as an excuse causing his family to laugh. “Sorry.”

It wasn’t time to think about those things. It was almost christmas and he was going to enjoy spending time with his family altogether. He blinked realizing this was going to be their first christmas with his father back. He grinned over at the other man. It was nice. 

XXX

“I can’t wait to play with Trunks!” Goten sat on flying nimbus grinning over at Gohan. On the cloud with him was a bag of small decorations Bulma had asked to borrow from Chichi. Gohan grinned. 

“Did he get a new video game?” Gohan asked, he was glad his little brother still used the cloud even though he didn’t really need it. 

“Yeah! He told me that he has a new one where you get to play giant dinosaurs and you have to destroy everything in the game without getting stopped by the army.” Goten laughed. “Isn’t that cool?”

“It sounds kind of villainous.” Gohan blinked at his little brother and Goten started laughing. 

“It would be funny if Saiyaman was in it.” Goten grinned. 

“A Saiyaman game would be a lot of fun.” Gohan agreed. “You should bring that up to Bulma.” She probably knew someone in the video game industry, with how her son always had new games. 

They landed and Goten ran inside while Gohan took the decorations and began looking for Bulma. He finally found her in the room with all the plants and animals. “Hey Bulma!”

“Gohan!” She smiled and gave him a hug. “What do you think so far?” She waved her hand at the room which had been heavily decorated in holiday cheer. 

“It’s festive.” He smiled, “You said you wanted these?” 

“Oh perfect!” Bulma took the box and handed it to a robot. “You, can you put these over there? Thanks. Actually Gohan, I’m glad you came early I was wondering if you could do me a favor?”

“What is it?” Gohan followed her out of the room and down the hall.

“I was out shopping for presents the other day and it was the weirdest thing. I saw this and I really wanted to give it to Dende.” Bulma handed Gohan a small bag. “He’s been doing a good job as the Guardian of the Earth and I thought he might like it. I mean I know he doesn’t drink anything but water, but it’s pretty?” 

Gohan peeked inside to see a tea set, it was really pretty and probably expensive. “I’m sure he’ll love it. Did you want me to take it to him now?” 

“If you don’t mind, if you have other plans before the party it can wait.” Bulma scratched her head. “I was going to ask Vegeta but that man knows when to disappear sometimes.” 

“I’ll take it.” Gohan grinned. “It’s been awhile since I’ve seen him. Will you tell Goten for me?”

“Sure! Thanks Gohan! See you later tonight!” Bulma waved him off before heading back to her decorating. 

Gohan grinned and headed out going to the Lookout. It had been a while since he had seen Dende ... in fact it had probably been during the Buu incident that was the last time. He needed to try and visit his friend more, it wasn’t like Dende could leave his spot whenever he felt like it.

He was thankful it wasn’t snowing anymore, he loved the snow but it made the flight a lot cooler. He waved at Korin when he passed the tower but almost stopped when he felt Piccolo’s ki at the lookout too. He felt excited at seeing the other man but also guilty for the dream. Gohan blushed, he needed to push it back. He took a few deep breaths with the time he had before he was landing on the lookout. He waved at Piccolo who gave him a slight nod, he looked over to Dende who had obviously been talking to the older Namekian. 

“Gohan!” Dende ran over excited. Gohan grinned at his friend, Dende was still a little shorter than him which was interesting but Dende said Piccolo was just tall for a Namekian. “What brings you here?”

“I actually have a gift from Bulma.” Gohan handed Dende the bag. “Careful it’s a little fragile.”

“Oh right, your christmas custom. I hope it’s okay I don’t have anything for her.” Dende looked in the bag. “This is beautiful.”

“She doesn’t expect anything back so don’t worry.” Gohan glanced over at Piccolo while Dende when to put the tea set on the table. The butterflies were back. Piccolo seemed to be paying attention to Dende so Gohan used his moment to look the Namekian over, he paused over the man’s mouth but when he got to his hands he had to look away. He didn’t notice Piccolo look over at him. 

“How have you been Gohan?” Dende grinned when he had the whole tea set on the table. 

“Enjoying the school break.” Gohan walked over to admire it. Bulma had great taste. 

“I heard you’re training with Piccolo again.” Dende smiled at the other Namekian and Gohan grinned over at Piccolo too. 

“Yeah, that’s been great too.” Gohan eye’s weren’t behaving because he looked at Piccolo’s lips, he forced himself to look back at Dende. He felt a little dizzy, he really wanted to look at Piccolo again. “How have you been up here?”

“It’s been fine.” Dende smiled. “The other day I broke a glass and I was worried it might be an omen but now I’m pretty sure it was just an accident.” Dende sighed with relief. “Mr.Popo thinks I might need a vacation.”

“The Earth does keep you busy.” Piccolo smirked at the guardian and Gohan frowned at the jolt in his chest. He coughed hoping neither of them noticed, it didn’t make any sense for him to feel this way, jealous of Dende? 

Damn Videl. 

“Gohan?” Dende asked worried.

“Sorry! I just have a lot on my mind, I think I should probably go back.” Gohan stood up and grabbed Dende’s hands wishing him goodbye. He waved at Piccolo before quickly heading off the Lookout. Gohan felt his face flush, he felt so awkward, what was that about? He was going to have to apologize to Dende later ... but then he might have to explain himself. Gohan cringed. 

He was surprised by the hand that grabbed his arm. He turned and Piccolo was right there, Gohan stared at him wide-eyed. They were so close. Piccolo looked worried.

“Gohan?” Gohan flushed, Piccolo’s voice sending a chill down his spine. 

“I’m sorry ... I ...” Gohan mentally cursed and closed his eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” Piccolo still hadn’t let go of his arm yet and Gohan was regretting the layers of his jackets, he wanted to see ... if a touch like this was as warm as it was in his dream. He realized his heart was pounding, and that it had started snowing again and -

“I love you.” Gohan put his hand over his mouth but opened his eyes. Piccolo was staring at him confused, of course he was confused. “I -I’ve loved you for a really long time and I thought that I could push it away but now it’s constantly on my mind and just a second ago I was jealous that you smiled at Dende and that’s not right a-and I’m sorry Mr.Piccolo I’m probably confusing you-” 

“I love you to Gohan.” Piccolo responded but Gohan could tell what he meant, like a friend or a brother. He shook his head. “But what’s wrong?”

“N-no I mean I’m in love with you.” Gohan moved forward, it wasn’t that far, Piccolo had never minded personal space when he wanted answers. He pressed his lips against Piccolo’s and they were warm and softer than Gohan thought they would be but he pulled away keeping his eyes on Piccolo’s face. “That’s what I mean and I ... but I don’t want to ruin our relationship that we have so-”

He wasn’t expecting Piccolo to pull him back and kiss him. Gohan felt his whole body go limp against the larger Namekian, as if all his strings, his anxiousness had been cut. Piccolo held onto him as he deepened the kiss. Gohan’s brain felt like it left his body, he didn’t want to open his eyes in case he was dreaming. Piccolo kissed him again and again, his arms wrapped around the teen tightly and Gohan wrapped his arms around the Namekian’s neck, thankful feeling seemed to return to his limbs so he could put them in action and kiss back. This was so much better than the dream. He tried to put all his want into the kiss, every time he had wanted Piccolo but had not allowed himself to dare. How much the Namekian meant to him, how much he had hated seeing that damn halo over Piccolo’s body when they had died during Buu. How much he loved the him and he was sure that this is what he wanted. What he needed. When he finally needed more than a few gasps of air he pulled away and gave an elated laugh wiping the tears from his eyes. 

Piccolo was panting too, his eyes dark and hungry in a way Gohan had never seen. Piccolo hadn’t let him go yet and didn’t seem like he was planning to, he moved forward and kissed Gohan’s forehead and then his cheek, letting the half Saiyan breath. 

“I’m not dreaming am I?” Gohan fought back the tears that had formed at that thought. “Mr.Piccolo tell me I’m not dreaming.” 

“You’re not dreaming.” Piccolo sighed against his mouth before pulling him into another kiss, this one was gentle unlike the others. Gohan felt warm all over. Piccolo pulled away but barely enough to end the kiss. “I love you too.” 

“I need to give Videl the best christmas present ever.” Gohan stared at the man in front of him wide-eyed. Piccolo glared at him confused. Gohan laughed, “Sorry ... she’s the one who told me to tell you and ... I wasn’t going to but I’m glad I did.”

“I’m glad you did.” Piccolo moved to run a hand down Gohan’s cheek, wiping at the tears. “I’m not going to let you go again.”

“Again?” Gohan shivered in the cold but he felt a nudge in his mind on his mental barrier and closed his eyes. Piccolo wanted to share something with him and he was going to take it. He was hit with a wave of emotions and memories - Piccolo letting Gohan push him away after Cell, the Namekian not knowing what to do to help him. Piccolo realizing how lonely he felt with Gohan around less and less. How torn he had felt about Videl but if she made Gohan happy then ... The way he had felt when he had heard Gohan had died but then found out he was alive, the emotional rollercoaster of dying with him- how he had hated the halo above Gohan’s head. How happy he had been when Gohan had come back to him for training, how he would take whatever the half-Saiyan would give ... Gohan hiccuped as the emotions ran over him ... Piccolo had felt the same way. He had felt the same way for a while and Gohan had pushed him away out of fear of rejection. 

“M-mr. Piccolo.” Gohan leaned forward. “Kiss me again?” 

And Piccolo did. 

Gohan didn’t know how long they stayed like that but it was only he started shivering from the cold and realized that snow was piling up on them that he realized they should probably move. His mouth had to be swollen and his eyes red from crying but he didn’t care. Piccolo gave him a small smile and he laughed. “We should probably move.”

“Hey! You two! You better come inside and warm up!” They both froze at the sound of Korin’s voice. Gohan flushed bright red and looked at Piccolo horrified, the Namekian had turned purple and seemed to be debating fleeing. “Hurry before Gohan gets sick.”

Gohan groaned but he was freezing, he grabbed Piccolo’s hand so the man wouldn’t leave him alone but Piccolo went with him easy so maybe it wasn’t a big worry. They both flew into the top floor of Korin’s lookout where it was nice and warm and Gohan realized just how cold he was. He let go of Piccolo to wrap his arms around himself, he looked over at Korin who was smirking at him. He was pretty sure his blush was going to be permanent. “Uh ... h-hey Korin.” 

“Yeah yeah, like I didn’t see the two of you happening.” Korin waved them off. “But I know that one of you can get sick if he’s not smart and people in love are never smart.” The cat handed Gohan a cup of something steaming, after the first sip he realized it was coco. It was wonderful. “Why ya’ll decided to hook up right about my house I’ll never know.” Gohan swallowed hard ignoring the burn in his throat. 

“You didn’t have to watch.” Piccolo crossed his arms but he was still blushing. Gohan laughed. 

“I don’t have a tv.” Korin laughed too. “I have some hot water if you want any Piccolo. Gohan go sit next to the fire. You need to thaw before you go to that party tonight. Yajirobi already left hoping to get an early buffet.” The cat sighed before pushing Gohan to the fire and a chair, he sat down easily, it was nice and warm. Korin motioned at another chair for Piccolo. “Now I’ll let you have your moment, sorry Gohan just looked so cold I couldn’t take it anymore.” Then Korin handed Piccolo a cup of warm water and left. 

Gohan took another sip of his coco not really knowing what to say after that. 

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to how cold it was.” Piccolo looked over at Gohan worried and Gohan grinned. 

“Neither was I.” He looked over at the stairs before scooting his chair closer to Piccolo’s which seemed to amuse the older man. “But I’ll thaw out quick. I don’t think I’ve ever been sick that I can remember.”

“Probably your Saiyan blood.” Piccolo reached over and dusted melting snow off Gohan’s head causing the teen to laugh again. Piccolo smiled. Gohan looked down at his cup of coco. 

“Can I ask you something?” He asked a bit shyly. 

“Of course.” Piccolo was dusting snow off himself. 

“W-why didn’t you ever say anything before?” Gohan looked at Piccolo, curious. 

“Well I’ll admit I didn’t really understand my feelings until we had pretty much lost contact.” Piccolo sighed looking into the fire. “And even then you were just a kid and then the next time I saw you, you had grown up and had a girl following you around and well Buu ... and then I thought you’d do fine without me so I never tried.”

“At first I told myself you couldn’t love me back because I was a kid and I knew you would think I would grow out of my feelings, I mean I was 11.” Gohan started. “And then I wasn’t a kid and I kept making up excuses because I was worried I was going to chase you away and so I pushed you away. And then when I saw you again I thought we could be friends but the longer I spent time with you the more I wanted. I’m sorry.” 

“I’m glad.” Piccolo huffed. “That you waited, if you had told me when you were a kid I would have rejected you.” 

“You’re not that much older than me.” Gohan mumbled earning a deep chuckle from Piccolo. “Are things going to change?” 

“Probably.” Piccolo thought about it. “I’ve seen how people change when they have a mate. But we just have to make sure that we’re both comfortable with each step we take.”

“We should probably wait to tell people.” Gohan leaned over so he could press his head to Piccolo’s arm. “Until you think we’re ready.”

“You’re mom is going to kill me.” Piccolo teased. 

“If you promise to give her grandkids she’ll probably love you.” Gohan answered honestly before realizing what he said, he looked at Piccolo’s face which was blushing again. “That can be a conversation for later.” 

“Do you want kids?” Piccolo whispered looking down at Gohan. 

“If you do.” Gohan answered with a smile. “Honestly right now you could say you want none or twenty and I’d be happy.” He sighed happily when Piccolo started running a hand through his hair. “Are you sure this isn’t a dream?”

“Do you normally dream of getting spied on by Korin?” Piccolo asked causing Gohan to laugh. 

“No but I did have a dirty one with you ... last ... night ...” Gohan winced looking up at Piccolo. Thankfully that comment seemed to have made both of them blush. “Sorry.”

“Can I see it?” Piccolo asked quietly and Gohan sat up looking surprised. “If you’re comfortable with it?”

“I’m worried about making you uncomfortable.” Gohan admitted but leaned forward and closed his eyes. “But if you want to?” 

He felt the gentle push against his mental barrier again and this time he tried to concentrate what he remembered about the dream. Piccolo’s warm hands. Their kissing in the waterfall. How turned on both of them were and not caring about the surroundings. How pushy Piccolo had been in the dream and how Gohan had enjoyed it. And how it had been interrupted at the good part. Gohan blinked his eyes open when he was done, he realized he was panting, turned on by the memory. He looked at Piccolo whose eyes fluttered open and immediately locked onto Gohan. They were hungry, Gohan bit his bottom lip and saw the other man’s eyes focus on that. Piccolo swallowed hard, “Do you normally have dreams like that?”

“Not in a long time.” Gohan didn’t know why but he was hesitant to move, as if the moment he did would break some sort of spell. 

“Put your drink on the floor and come here.” It was said in almost a whisper but Gohan found himself obeying, immediately putting his drink on the floor and standing up to stand in front of Piccolo who had put his cup on the floor but stayed seated. The Namekian reached up and under Gohan’s layers to grab his hips and pull him forward so he was straddling his hips. 

“Can I take my jacket and scarf off?” Gohan panted and when Piccolo nodded he made quick work so he was in just his button up shirt and pants. The second the jacket hit the floor Piccolo pulled Gohan forward and they were kissing again. Gohan felt a hand lead him on his neck and another hand slide under his shirt and it was so warm. He groaned grabbing fistfulls of the white tunic to hold onto. “Not fair.” He whispered between kisses. 

“There is no fair in battle.” Piccolo teased before leaning forward to kiss and nip at Gohan’s throat causing a moan out of the teen. Gohan thrusted his hips forward and was please to feel that Piccolo was hard too, it earned him a growl so he did it again. 

“Sorry but I’m going to have to interrupt the two of you here.” Gohan froze at the sound of Korin’s voice. “If you’re all nice and warmed up, you should probably take him home.” The cat’s voice was amused, not sorry at all to interrupt them. 

Piccolo growled and buried his head against Gohan’s chest trying to hid his blush as Gohan laughed. They awkwardly pulled themselves together, thanked Korin for letting them warm up and then Gohan pulled Piccolo with him to his house. Korin had the right idea, no one would be home. They went into his bedroom from the window and immediately Gohan threw his jacket off before Piccolo grabbed him and threw him down on the bed. Gohan yanked at his cloak. “Please take this off.”

He watched wide eyed as the green skin was revealed, Piccolo took off his tunic and the top of his gi. Gohan had to wipe at his chin to make sure he wasn’t drooling and then pinch himself to make sure it was real. He wanted this so much. He reached forward as Piccolo climbed over him, touching all the skin he could reach, feeling every curve and divot he had never been allowed before. He groaned as he was pulled into a kiss and then Piccolo thrust down against him and Gohan was seeing stars. He gripped Piccolo’s back and moved his legs so they were wrapped around the other man’s waist. 

“Gohan.” Piccolo growled and Gohan felt like he almost came right then. He whimpered as the hand when under his shirt again this time more aggressive and ripped it open causing the buttons to fly before Piccolo was caressing his skin, the Namekian moved and kissed down Gohan’s neck to his chest and down to his belly button. 

“I wish I could have robot eyes so I could record all of this right now.” Gohan blurted out, Piccolo paused and gave him an amused glance before moving his hand to tug at Gohan’s pants. Gohan nodded enthusiastically and helped get them off with less damage than his now permanently opened shirt. And his boxers came off to and then Piccolo kissed his belly button again and kissed down until he was taking Gohan into his mouth. Gohan gripped the sheets of his bed with a shout, it felt so amazing, he didn’t last very long and tried to warn Piccolo before he came in the man’s mouth. Piccolo sat up and spit it in his hand and seemed to be testing the texture. 

“Oh my god I’m so sorry.” Gohan moved to lean forward put a hand on his chest pushed him back against the pillows. He watched Piccolo wide-eyed. Panting. Excited. He was pretty sure if they just waited a little bit his dick would be back in action too. Whatever Piccolo had been thinking he obviously decided against it and wiped his hand on Gohan’s bed before looking at the teen. 

“Do ... you want to keep going?” He asked and Gohan realized the other man was just as nervous as he was. He immediately nodded leaning forward and this time being allowed and kissed Piccolo’s mouth, tasting the aftermath of himself but still the Namekian’s specific taste. Piccolo groaned. 

“Do you want me to do you?” Gohan gently pushed at Piccolo’s shoulders who got the idea and they switched places so Piccolo was laying back. Gohan felt like his heart was about to burst and his brain had already gone dead. Seeing Piccolo on his bed in want was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He felt awkward next to him. “You’re so beautiful.” 

“Oh?” Piccolo teased, “Which part do you like the most?” If it wasn’t for his deep purple blush, Gohan almost believe the bravado. 

“I love your eyes.” Gohan crawled over the man and kissed his forehead. “And you antennae, he kissed the tip of one earning a nice shiver from the larger man. “Your ears are fantastic. Your neck, your shoulders.” Gohan tried to kiss every part he mentioned as he went down the larger body. “All of you Piccolo.” He put his hands on the belt and easily got it out of the way, he looked up to see eyes watching him intently. “I love all of you.” 

He nervously pulled the pants down and Piccolo helped. Gohan swallowed hard looking at Piccolo’s swollen cock, it was gorgeous too. He was nervous about messing this up but he could do this. He smiled at the other man before licking along the side, a method he had seen on the internet. He tried to think of what he had scene or what the boys at school talked about. What Piccolo had just done was amazing too. He licked again and Piccolo gripped at the sheets like he had before, Gohan felt encouraged and moved to take the tip in his mouth being careful about the teeth. He groaned at the tasted, he wondered if the rest of Piccolo tasted the same, he was going to lick the man later to find out. He couldn’t fit the whole thing in his mouth but he tried and hummed, pleased with himself except that seem to be the last straw for the Namekian and Gohan felt his throat get filled with cum, he swallowed some before pulling away and spitting the rest in his hand, it was more than he imagined and didn’t taste like he thought it would. He wiped his hand and grinned up at Piccolo who was panting and staring at him surprised. 

“Was that okay for my first time?” Gohan leaned forward and laid on the green chest in front of him. 

“I never knew it would be like that.” Piccolo sounded amazed and Gohan looked up at him. “Was ... was I okay ... for my first time?” Gohan grinned. 

“You were amazing. If I didn’t have to go to a party later I would say we should do other things too.” Gohan looked at the clock. “Are you coming?” And then he snorted. “I mean going to the party?”

“I knew what you meant.” Piccolo ruffled his hair lazily. “Do you want me to come?” 

Gohan thought about it and smiled. “Yeah, if you want too. But I might not be able to stop smiling.”

“I wouldn’t want you to stop.” Piccolo pulled him down for a kiss. “In that case, we should get cleaned up.”

“Want help washing your back?” Gohan grinned and Piccolo sighed but let himself be pulled off the bed and out of the room. “Think you can fix my shirt?” Gohan looked at it. “I don’t want to explain to Goten why I changed clothes.” 

 

XXX

Two red aliens hovered over Capsule Corp making sure to keep their presence hidden. 

“The Namekians we questioned said that this is where we could find a machine to track the dragon balls.” Akami crossed her arms before looking over at her brother. “There’s a human, a saiyan and two half-breed offspring inside.”

“What is a Saiyan doing here?” Aji growled. 

“Not now brother.” Akami put a hand on his shoulder. “First the dragon balls, we will let the prince know what we have found. But I’m sure he already knows.”

“If there’s one here there is more.” Aji glared at the building. 

“Let’s find the machine first.” Akami spied through the window’s of the building. They would try the human woman first. The woman was currently changing her clothing, Akami silently went through the window and put the woman to sleep, catching her before she fell on the ground. Akami scanned her thoughts for the machine. 

“Well?” Aji looked around the room nervously. 

“They call it a ‘dragon radar’, she is the creator.” Akami lifted the woman and placed her on the bed. The red alien moved out of the room and down the hall to another room full of computers. It was sitting where the human woman remembered. Akami smiled before handing it to her brother. “Let’s go.”

This was going to make things a lot easier. 

XXX

They were still a little early and Gohan had told Piccolo he could come later if he was worried but the Namekian had said it didn’t matter and came with. The snow had stopped again but it had built up a nice layer around town. Gohan grinned as they reached Capsule Corp and he saw his little brother and Trunks building snowmen outside, they seemed to be having a contest. 

“Gohan!” Goten grinned. “Good, you can help! I have to make a snowman larger than Trunks!”

“You can’t get help!” Trunks shouted from behind his snowman before looking over at Gohan and Piccolo. “That’s cheating.”

“Can’t have that.” Gohan laughed causing Goten to pout. “Trunks, where’s Bulma? Did she need anymore help?” 

“No ... she found some mistletoe and went to find my dad.” Trunks stuck out his tongue. Piccolo snorted. 

“I’m going to go inside.” Gohan pointed at the building and Piccolo waved him off, obviously deciding to stay outside. He walked into the place where the party was happening and was surprised to see that all the decorations looked finished and the robots were setting up the food now.

“Gohan! How was Dende?” Bulma appeared up from behind one of the large trays of food. She was carrying mistletoe. “Also perfect timing, help me hang these around the room. I’m a little behind, I took an unplanned nap earlier. I don’t even remember laying in bed but I woke up an hour ago.”

“He was fine and really liked your gift..” Gohan grabbed one from her hand and saw it was already attached to a long string to hang from the ceiling. He flew up to hang it. “Trunks told me you were chasing Vegeta around with these.”

“Did he now?” Bulma laughed. “Okay I did chase him a little bit but he was supposed to come help me hang them and he’s being slow.”

“Well I had a feeling you could get someone else to help.” Vegeta’s voice came from the door causing Bulma to jump. Gohan flew back down and grabbed another one, Vegeta was in his regular gear, a large contrast to Bulma’s christmas sweater and santa hat. 

“Oh good you’re here. Help Gohan hang these and I’m going to check on the food.” Bulma put the mistletoe on the table and gave her partner a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room. 

“I don’t mind hanging them if you had something else to do.” Gohan offered picking up a few this time, he should probably spread them out. Vegeta didn’t answer so he looked over at the other man who was staring at him ... and smelling the air? Gohan froze, he had forgotten about Saiyan keen sense of smell. He wondered if Goten or Trunks had noticed anything when he and Piccolo arrived. 

“Interesting.” Vegeta finally spoke grabbing a mistletoe from the pile. Gohan flushed. “I had gotten used to your scent mixing with the Namekians but it’s been a while and it’s never been so ... merged.”

“Vegeta -” Gohan paused when the man waved him off. 

“It’s none of my business but you’ll have to realize a bath won’t be enough to get rid of that. If you don’t want my son or your brother or even your father asking questions tonight, I suggest you find a stronger smell. And maybe a higher collar.” The man smirked. “Though if you tell my wife I’m sure she could announce it to everyone at the party.”

“No! No thanks. Please.” Gohan put the mistletoe down on the table and put a hand on his neck to cover the mark Vegeta had seen, he shouldn’t have left his scarf behind. “Thanks for the reminder ... I should go ... fix this. Please don’t tell anyone yet its ... new. Really new. Today new.” 

“Like I said, none of my business.” Vegeta started floating up to hang a mistletoe. “And hardly surprising.”

Gohan took that as dismissal and made a beeline out of the house and over to where he had left Piccolo and the boys. Goten and Trunks had apparently given up their battle to team up and try to make a snowman shaped like Piccolo, the Namekian was meditating a little ways away. Gohan grinned as they tried to get the pointy shoulders to stay on. “That looks good guys.” They giggled as he passed and Gohan went over to Piccolo who opened his eyes at his approach. Gohan nervously shifted. “So ... Vegeta knows ... he can smell it. I didn’t even think of our Saiyan sense of smell.” Gohan whispered so the boys wouldn’t hear.

“So ... we smell even after the bath.” Piccolo whispered back, Gohan blushed and nodded.

“I didn’t notice until Vegeta pointed it out but ... I like it.” Gohan admitted. “But Goten and Trunks haven’t seemed to noticed but if Vegeta did ... Father might and he doesn’t really think of what he says sometimes. And I shouldn’t have left the scarf behind.”

“Sorry.” Piccolo smirked at Gohan’s hand covering the hickey, Gohan felt like the other man wasn’t really sorry. “Alright, I’ll be back later ... will you be able to find something?” 

“Yeah, I was going to ask Bulma about cologne. She has a lot and used to like spraying me with it.” Gohan sighed, she always put on too much for his nose to handle but it might be what he needed. “I wasn’t going to volunteer that for you though.”

“Yeah no thanks.” Piccolo stood up and gently pressed his hand against Gohan’s before stepping away. “See you later.” 

“Nooo.” Trunks and Goten whined as their model for their snowman left. “Gohan why’d he leave?”

“He’ll be back for the party tonight.” Gohan said apologetically. Thankfully they were easily distracted by a small snowball fight before Gohan got away to find Bulma. 

By the time people started arriving Gohan smelt to high heaven of something Bulma had said was her ‘favorite’ but could never get Vegeta to wear. Been given a scarf of christmas lights that blinked by Trunks and a santa hat by one of the robots. 

“Someone looks like they got in a fight with the season.” Krillin laughed putting his daughter on the ground, 18 right beside him. 

“Can I go play with Trunks and Goten?” Marron looked at her parents and ran off when 18 nodded. The boys noticed her and slowed down their chasing for her to catch up. 

“I got here a little early.” Gohan laughed, “I should warn you, there’s mistletoe every in that room and a robot forcing hats on people.”

“Did you get forced into greeting everyone?” 18 teased and Gohan realized it looked he was the greeter, he had been waiting on Piccolo. He moved to follow them inside. 

“No, I was just waiting for more people.” He laughed nervously hoping they didn’t notice. Then slowly everyone else came in. His mother and father weren’t late surprising everyone. Yajirobe and Buu had taken over the buffet table with Mr.Satan following them around nervously. Oolong had been forced into being the cameraman for the even and was determined to use up all the film in the first hour with Puar following him around nervously. Yamcha and Tien had shown up together with Chiaotzu who had gone and joined the kids playing around. Vegeta had chosen a spot in the room away from the Mistletoe and stayed there. Bulma was going around and catching people purposely under the plant to give them kisses on the cheek. Gohan was surprised when he saw Videl. 

“Videl!” He went over as she adjusted the hat the robot had put on her head. “For some reason I didn’t think you were going to make it.”

“Buu was too impatient to wait for me.” She waved at her dad who was still with the alien. “How are things?” 

Gohan smiled and ducked his head. “Pretty good but I’ll have to tell you later.” 

“Oh?” Videl looked at him mischievously. “Don’t take too long, you know what it’s like when I play detective.”

“Piccolo!” Gohan looked up at his father’s voice, he saw Goku pull Piccolo into the party. The Namekian was grumbling at the antlers now placed on his head. Gohan smiled as his mom started laughing at the two of them, she went over and switched their hats so Goku had antlers and Piccolo had a santa hat. Piccolo huffed as everyone laughed. 

“Ohhh.” Videl’s voice started Gohan and he looked at her surprised. 

“What?” He squeaked. 

“Did you tell him?” She whispered and he nodded. “And??” Gohan found his face felt too warm to form words so he nodded again. Videl laughed. “You owe me.”

“I do.” Gohan admitted quickly. 

“Great you can help me with my flying ... and show me how to shoot a ki blast.” Videl answered excited. “I keep trying on my own but it’s harder than I thought.”

“Why do you want to know that?” Gohan asked worried.

“You’re not the only one who felt helpless on the sidelines.” Videl sighed looking over at the people having a good time at the party. “And I was actually on the sidelines.” 

“Videl.” Gohan started, worried about his friend. 

“It’s fine, you’re going to teach me.” She grinned. “Humans have to fight for Earth too you know.” 

“Here here.” Krillin passed them with a lift of his drink that was definitely something strong. 

“Remind me not to drink any of the punch.” Gohan rubbed his nose. 

The party was great and everyone had a good time. Gohan and Piccolo only crossed paths a few times but Gohan knew it would be better to wait and tell everyone. When they had gotten close Piccolo had made fun of Gohan’s cologne riddled smell when the Namekian smelt like a crisp winter forest, it made Gohan want to light and fire and take a nap. He laughed as his mother got his father under a mistletoe and she dipped him before kissing him. He laughed even more at the face Goten made, sticking his tongue out like Trunks had before. Overall it was good and Goku had managed to talk some of his friends into going on a camping trip before school started so Goten and Gohan could come too. It would still be cold but Gohan knew they were going to have fun. 

XXX

“Prince Maguro, we only have two dragon balls left to collect.” The Prince looked at Akami on the screen. “The device has made things easy and so far I believe we have remained undetected.” 

“Good job Akami, Toro and I will be there in a couple of days.” Prince Maguro smiled, “Was there anything else.”

“Why didn’t you tell Aji and myself about the Saiyans on this planet.” She asked.

“The dragonballs are the mission, everything else will be later.” Prince Maguro waved her off. “There are only a few there so I did not see them as a problem. You can rest assured they will not be spared.”

“Of course sir.” Akami bowed. “I’ll send you the coordinates of our location when we have all the balls.”

“Soon we will have our planet and our people back.” Prince Maguro smiled. “Your work will not be forgotten, nor your brothers.”

“Thank you sir.” Akami smiled softly. “It will all be worth it soon.”

“Stay safe and out of the site of the Saiyans.” Prince Maguro ordered and closed the feed. He looked over at Toro who was piloting the ship. “Sending them ahead in the speed pod was a great idea Toro. Good work.”

“Of course my prince.” Toro bowed. “Might I suggest you get some rest before we get there?”

“I will rest when the Saiyan race is no more.” 

XXX

Gohan braced himself for the attack that Piccolo launched at him. He blocked it before ducking to dodge a kick that immediately followed. He threw a punch causing Piccolo to back off. Gohan grinned before his foot was grabbed and he was thrown into a cliffside. He groaned shaking the rocks off before looking up, he had forgotten Piccolo had made a double. 

“You’re being sloppy.” Both of them sad at the same time and Gohan glared as they smirked down at him. He took a deep breath before flying at the both of them, he got a good kick on one before aiming his attacks on the other one. 

“You really think you’ll beat me with your power divided in half?” Gohan grinned before throwing the Piccolo he was fighting into ground below. He only had a second before the second one was back- He dodged a few hits before grabbing his fist and throwing the second one down to join the first. Gohan smiled as they merged together. “Ready to stop for the day?”

“Not on your life.” Piccolo smirked up at him. Gohan grinned bracing himself. 

Then Piccolo vanished. 

Gohan dropped to dodge a kick and barely managed to dodge a punch right after. He kicked but Piccolo caught his leg so he twisted and kicked him with his other foot sending the Namekian down into the frozen lake below but before he hit he vanished again and then Gohan was hit hard on his back and he crashed into the lake below. He quickly swam to the surface taking a breath. 

“Okay okay ... I think I’m done.” Gohan shivered getting out of the ice water quickly, Piccolo landed beside him helping him up. Gohan glared at him playfully. “You got me all wet.”

“You need to improve if you don’t want to get thrown into the water.” Piccolo wrapped his cape around the younger man. Gohan grinned and leaned against him. “Or if you powered up.”

“Well I want to work on the basics.” Gohan realized he was getting Piccolo all wet too. “This isn’t really improving the situation. I should probably head home or ... we could start a fire?” He looked at the Namekian a little shyly. Piccolo gave him a look with a smirk before pulling Gohan with them so they walked over to the closest cave. He left Gohan in there with his cloak while he got firewood and soon they had a warm fire. Gohan shifted nervously looking at the Namekian. He wanted to go over and kiss him, he wondered if Piccolo would accept it. Piccolo hadn’t complained any time Gohan had cuddled against him any time they met up and they had kissed a few times but even after that first ... day of them getting together. Gohan blushed. They hadn’t moved past the kisses again. 

Gohan was worried he was becoming a pervert with the tract his dreams had been going on. 

“Gohan?” Piccolo walked over. “Are you alright?”

“Can ... Can I kiss you?” Gohan blushed.

“Of course.” Piccolo blushed too but he pulled Gohan closer and kissed him, opening up his mouth eagerly. Gohan enjoyed the warmth coming from the Namekian’s body and wrapped his arms around his neck. Piccolo’s arms wrapped around the teen and they stayed near the fire like that for a short while, hold each other and kissing. Gohan pulled away for air and Piccolo kissed his forehead. “I don’t know what the normal ... thing to do is here.”

“What do you mean?” Gohan raised an eyebrow in question. 

“I want you to be ... able to kiss me whenever you want to.” Piccolo mumbled, “so you should and ... you shouldn’t hesitate around me.” 

“I’m just worried I might go too fast or make you uncomfortable.” Gohan whispered back. “I mean ... we went kind of fast at first but I know that Namekian’s are different from humans.”

“I was raised on Earth though and ... my father was pretty worldly.” Piccolo looked at Gohan. “I’ve watched humans for a long time and ... I’d be willing to do most things with you.”

“Yeah?” Gohan felt his heart pound against his chest. He knew he had to be bright red. “So would you ever be interested in ... having sex?”

“With you ... I wouldn’t mind trying it.” Piccolo ducked his head. “Although we would never be able to make children from the act. If it’s something you would enjoy I would like to try.”

“I want to do things we’ll both enjoy.” Gohan shivered. “We can take it a step at a time?”

“I think first we should get you out of these wet clothes.” Piccolo tugged at Gohan’s shirt and the half-Saiyan’s mouth went dry. He went forward and kissed the taller alien while his shirt got pulled off and thrown on the ground. Gohan grinned pulling at Piccolo’s clothes. 

“That was smooth.” He kissed Piccolo again. “We can’t do everything right now but I have an idea if you’re up for it.” He grinned with a blush. 

“You are supposed to be the smart one.” Piccolo teased but followed Gohan’s lead and started undressing. 

They kissed when they were undressed and Gohan blushed laying out Piccolo’s cape on the ground before pulling the other man down with him. They moved so they were side by side and Gohan lined them up and spit in his hand to try and to take both their erections in his hand at once. Piccolo let out a moan and moved one of his hand to grab Gohan’s hip. Piccolo kissed every part of Gohan he could reach while the teen focused on his task. What he was doing felt amazing. 

Gohan groaned as Piccolo thrust against him and into his hand. This was the best idea. He bit his lip moving his hand faster, their precum slicking them up even more and making it easier to move. Piccolo kissed the top of his head and Gohan buried his face in the Namekian’s neck, panting as they both got closer to release. He moaned as he came first, thrusting into his hand and against Piccolo but it didn’t take too long for the other man to follow. Gohan watched as his hand became covered with both their cum, amazed and panting. Then two strong hands were pulling him into a kiss and Piccolo rolled so Gohan was on his back and he was on top. Gohan let his mouth be devoured by the larger alien, enjoying it and kissing back when he found the strength. His whole body felt like a live wire and it was amazing. Piccolo released his mouth to take a breath of air and Gohan panted heavily staring into his eyes. 

“Was that okay?” He asked between breaths and with a smile. 

“You know it was.” Piccolo growled with a smirk putting his weight on top of Gohan who gladly accepted it. “Guess I’ll keep doing this thing with you.” 

Gohan barked out a laugh before bringing the man into another kiss, this one gentle and slow. He let his hands explore Piccolo’s body above his. Feeling the hard muscles and shifting movements when Gohan pressed a sensitive area. He sighed content and pulled away from the kiss. “You’re so beautiful.” 

“Hn.” Piccolo snorted looking down at him. “Don’t know if I like that more than people running away from me in fear.” But Gohan could feel his heartbeat against his chest and grinned. “But we should get cleaned up, it’s getting late.” 

Gohan looked at the mouth of the cave to see the sun was setting. He sighed as Piccolo climbed off him and then he was wearing a new outfit. Gohan giggled grabbing Piccolo’s old shirt off the floor and wiping himself down with it. Then grabbing his clothes that were now dry, near the fire. 

“I could always give you new clothes.” Piccolo pulled him close making it hard for him to get dressed. 

“Maybe next time.” Gohan let the taller alien kiss and nibble on his neck. “The rougher I look, I can get the first bath.” 

“Your true plans come out to the open.” Piccolo growled in his ear. “Next time I’ll really rough you up.”

Gohan felt all the blood rush to his face. “O-only if that’s a promise.” He squeaked earning a dark chuckle. “That reminds me, are you going camping with everyone?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Piccolo answered honestly. “I don’t really like watching your friends eat wildlife but if I’m around I’ll stop by.” 

“Okay.” Gohan kissed him. “I’m off.” 

“Be safe.” Piccolo pulled him back for another kiss before letting him fly off. He tossed the leftover clothes into the fire.

Gohan hummed the entire way home. Things with Piccolo were fantastic. He would see him less with school starting up again soon but maybe by then he could tell his family so they could be more open. He was really worried about how his mother would take it, he knew she had really liked Videl but maybe if he mentioned that Videl had helped push them together ... Gohan wondered idly if his mother was just wanting another girl in the family. He landed in front of his house. 

“Hey I’m back! Is it okay if I take a bath before dinner?” Gohan walked inside to see Chichi cooking and Goten sitting at the table doing homework. She looked over at him. 

“If you hurry! Don’t make a mess in there though!” Gohan nodded and ran up the stairs but had to jump up to avoid running over his father. Goku looked at him wide-eyed. 

“Looks like Piccolo isn’t going easy on you!” Goku laughed hitting his shoulder. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

“I’m going to take a quick shower.” Gohan grinned landing on the floor again. “I’ll be really fast.” After that he made a beeline to the bathroom. 

Gohan stared at his son’s retreat sniffing the air a little. That was ... interesting. 

XXX

“You guys have fun now.” Chichi put the last of the food supplied for their camping trip in the final bag. It was a lot but she knew it wouldn’t last them long, hopefully they were able to catch fish and animals for the whole weekend. At first she was she was going argue against their trip but all schools were on break and Gohan had been acting a bit strange lately. She had a feeling that it had to do with Videl and wondered if they were getting back together. It would be nice for him to spend a few days with Goku, Goten and the others. She handed Goten the bag and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. Goku and Gohan were waiting outside. 

“Moooom.” He whined but she could tell he was excited to not have to study for a few days. She sighed watching him go. She had been too lenient on him when Goku was gone and now she was worried he wouldn’t be good at school. Maybe Gohan had the right idea and sending Goten to a school with other boys his age would be good ... or maybe tutoring him and Trunks together! Oh that would be a good idea, she would have to talk to Bulma later. 

“Have fun! Stay safe! Come home if anything happens!” She shouted out the door watching her boys go off. This would be good for the three of them to spend time together but she couldn’t help but worry that something bad was going to happen. 

She frowned watching Gohan specifically as he vanished in the distance. 

No, Goku was back and things were at peace again. If anything happened she knew her husband would protect their children. 

“This better be worth getting behind on homework.” She laughed to herself before going back inside. Time to clean the after breakfast mess. 

“Achoo!” Gohan sneezed. 

“Gohan’s getting sick!” Goten laughed scooting away from his brother and bumping into their father.

“Are you okay son?” Goku turned so he was flying backwards. 

“Yeah I’m fine I’m not getting sick.” Gohan playfully knocked Goten to the side. “Just a sneeze.”

“Oh good. You’re mother would kill me if either of you got sick!” Goku laughed and the boys joined in. They all turned when they felt a power level coming up to them. “Krillin!!”

“Hey guys!” Krillin flew up with a small backpack. “I’m surprised you were all able to make it! No studying?”

“Mother said we get a break!” Goten laughed, “I feel Trunks! I’m going ahead!” And he shot off in front of them. 

“Trunks? Is Vegeta coming?” Krillin asked surprised. 

“No, but Trunks wanted to come so I think Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar picked him up.” Gohan filled him in. “Are Tien and Chiaotzu going to make it?” 

“I don’t know but either of you hear from Piccolo?” Krillin counted their group on his fingers. He looked over as Gohan coughed. “You okay?”

“Yeah sorry. I told Piccolo about it when we were sparring but I don’t know if he’ll come.” Gohan shrugged but Krillin noticed his cheeks were a little flushed. 

“You’re not getting sick are you?” He asked a little worried, he knew Gohan was 18 now but it was still hard not to think of him as the 5 year old he went to Namek with. 

“He sneezed earlier!” Goku chimed in. 

“It was just once!” Gohan whined. “I’m fine, really. It’s okay, if I feel bad I’ll go back home, I promise. But I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine with my Saiyan blood and all.” Thankfully they were close to the campsite and went in to land. Goten and Trunks were playing with Oolong and Puar in the river already. Tien and Yamcha were setting up a fire and unpacking. 

“Hey Guys!!” Goku greeted his friends before looking around. “Hey Tien is Chiaotzu alright?” 

“Yeah he wanted to come but Launch pulled him into something and he really couldn’t turn her down. I tried to help but ...” He scratched his bald head a little embarrassed. “It didn’t seem to help him, so I came.”

“Blue Launch or Blonde Launch?” Krillin asked before unpacking his sack. 

“Blonde.” Everyone around who had met her held a short moment of silence for Chiaotzu and whatever Launch was getting him into. 

“I hope you have bail money.” Oolong teased before getting dunked in the water by Trunks. “C-cold!”

“Okay what do we need ... more firewood!” Krillin looked around. “Gohan you wanna help?” 

Gohan paused unpacking his bag to blink at Krillin before grinning. “Sure! We’ll be right back!” 

They headed into the woods looking for a tree that was large enough to chop up. Gohan kept watching Krillin, it was obvious there was something on the smaller man’s mind when he asked him to come too but Krillin hadn’t said anything yet. He wondered if Krillin had found out about his and Piccolo’s relationship. He stopped at a tree. “How about this?” 

“Oh good one!” Krillin tapped it with his fist. “Yeah that will be perfect.” 

“Before we go back was there something on your mind Krillin?” Gohan stopped the older man from chopping down the tree. He and Krillin had always been close since he was a kid, he hoped that it hadn’t changed that much. 

“Aha you could tell I wanted to ask you something? But I didn’t know if I should or not.” Krillin admitted looking embarrassed. “I was just wondering why you started training again after Buu.” The older man leaned against the tree. “I mean before all that you were so gung-ho about being a scholar and following your dreams finally and you got a girlfriend and even Goku came back. I was just worried that ... something happened, I heard you and Videl broke up but ... I wanted to know.” 

Gohan smiled at his friend before nudging him on the shoulder. Krillin was amazing. “Nothing bad happened well I mean I don’t think it’s bad anymore.” He sighed trying to think of where to start. “It’s just that ... so many people had so much faith in me and my power and I was powerless against Buu. It was the strongest I had ever been and so many people helped me get there and I didn’t help at all.”

“Gohan that’s not true!” Krillin immediately began but Gohan shook his head. 

“It just made me think of Cell again or even all the way back to when Vegeta first came to kill us all. I felt like maybe I should work harder and try to use the faith people put in me. I still don’t like fighting but it should be something I’m able to do to protect the ones I love. I’ll never be like father or Vegeta but ...” Gohan shrugged. “I can be a scholar and a fighter too, so that’s what I’m trying to do. If the world never needs me again that would be great, that would be my dream. But if everyone needs me to fight again I want to be ready. Actually it was Videl who convinced me too.”

Krillin leaned his weight against the teen and Gohan laughed. Krillin looked up at him and smiled. “You’re amazing Gohan, you really are.” 

“Thanks Krillin, that means alot coming from you.” Gohan laughed before getting off the tree. “Okay so let’s bring the firewood.”

“How’s Videl doing anyway? I haven’t seen you two in the news together in a while, even fighting crime.” Krillin leered as the tree fell over from a well placed chop. Gohan coughed. 

“Um ... well ...” Gohan scratched his head as Krillin picked up the tree by himself. “We’re still friends and I think she might be seeing someone else.” He winced as Krillin almost dropped the tree.

“WHAT?” Krillin looked at him surprised. “Wow, sorry man. I always thought you two would get back together ... ” Krillin started walking not wanting to make Gohan feel bad. “Well there’s other fish in the sea! Hehehe!” He looked over to see the teen blush. “Is there already another fish?”

Gohan weighed his options back and forth. He’s always been honest with Krillin, the man was like an uncle to him. Krillin had always been around when he needed to talk to someone and Goku had been gone and he had been too embarrassed to ask Piccolo. “There is but ... Vegeta found out ... and Videl knows but I haven’t started telling anyone else about ... him ... ” Gohan watched the shorter man closely for a reaction. 

“Yeah don’t want people thinking you’re moving on too fast but you’re smarrrrr...” Krillin paused and looked at Gohan surprised again. “Him?”

“Yeah.” Gohan looked at his feet flushing red. He heard Krillin but the tree down, he hadn’t really thought of that aspect of telling people about Piccolo. This was going to be a good test run. Suddenly Krillin was in front of him forcing him to make eye contact. 

“You like him?” Krillin asked seriously. 

“I do.” Gohan nodded. 

“Does he like you back?” The shorter man remained serious. 

“He does.” Gohan couldn’t hide his goofy smile. Krillin grinned brightly and Gohan felt relieved, his heart had been pounding with nervousness but it wasn’t over yet. “I haven’t told anyone yet and I’d like to keep it a secret for a bit longer.”

“Okay, don’t worry about that.” Krillin patted him on the shoulder. “You know the guys wouldn’t have a problem with this right? I’m pretty sure your father wouldn’t even understand why people would be against it- he didn’t even know the difference between boys and girls when I met him. Though how did Vegeta find out?” Krillin laughed at the memory.

“The other thing is ... “ Gohan decided to go in all the way, he knew he could trust Krillin. “It’s someone everyone knows and Vegeta could smell him on me a while back and ... .” 

Krillin paused thinking about it. “W-who?”

“Piccolo.” Gohan braced himself for a yell but none came. Krillin was staring at him wide-eyed. The shorter man opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times. He took a step back and closed his eyes obviously trying to think of something. “Krillin?”

“That one some people may have a problem with.” Krillin sighed looking at Gohan a little worried but with a small smile. “I mean it can’t be too surprising, you used to sing praise about him and tell us how much you loved him when you were little. But it is a little surprising nonetheless. I mean he’s so much older than you.”

“Technically he’s only four years older.” Gohan shrugged. “But you’re right and he has a history with everyone ...”

“I mean who doesn’t in this group. Goku was sent here to destroy humans, Yamcha was a thief, Tien was an assassin ... Oolong used to kidnap women ... and we all know about Vegeta.” Krillin paused. “I’m the only good pure person without a sordid past.” He laughed mischievously. 

“What??” Gohan choked, he hadn’t known that about everyone. 

“You like him?” Krillin asked a little shyly. 

“I love him.” Gohan grinned and Krillin blushed. “And he loves me too but ... we’re still working on it. It’s new but I really want to give it a shot.” Gohan looked at Krillin worried. “Which is why we haven’t told anyone.” 

“Okay.” Krillin nodded. “I won’t tell anyone either but if he hurts you, you have to know what the consequences will be.”

“What if I hurt him?” Gohan asked playfully. 

“If you hurt Piccolo I’m pretty sure you’d beat yourself up enough on your own.” Krillin nodded. “And probably not be able to talk to Dende or Popo again, they’ve become fond of him.” The shorter man picked up the tree again but hesitated before moving forward. “You’re happy?”

Gohan grinned moving to take some weight from the tree. “I’m really happy.” 

“Okay then!” Krillin started moving. “But seriously if you ever need to talk to me about something, feel free. I mean I care about you a lot Gohan, you’re like a son or a nephew to me and I want you to be happy.” 

“Thanks Krillin.” Gohan bowed his head, thankful for his friend. His heart was racing but he took a few deep breaths. He knew it wouldn’t be as easy with everyone else. He felt a nudge mentally and sent a reassuring one back. Piccolo had obviously felt his anxiousness which made Gohan wonder if he was actually nearby.

“No problem.” Krillin smiled back at him and then they made their way back to their friends and family. 

XXX

“So this is the Earth.” Prince Maguro looked around. It was exactly what the Namekians had described. It was beautiful and full of resources just like his planet had been. He looked over to the last few of his race left, Akami, Aji and Toro were standing next to the glowing dragon balls. 

“It reminds me of home.” Akami smiled sadly. 

“Sire, we should probably make our wishes before someone intervenes.” Toro stepped forward with a bow. The prince nodded before stepping foward. 

“Oh great dragon Shenron, we call you forth to grant our wishes!” 

They startled as the ground shook and black clouds took over the sky. A bright light shot from the dragon balls taking over the sky and becoming the form of a huge dragon. Maguro looked up in awe, it was amazing and everything he had heard. 

“I am the Great Shenron, I will grant you two wishes.” Maguro paused. 

“Only two? We were told it would be three.” Toro frowned. 

“Only two wishes.” The dragon growled and Toro took a step back. 

“That is fine, we are lucky to have any wishes.” Akami glared at Toro who glared back. 

“Oh Great Shenron.” Maguro ignored them. “I would like to wish for another dragon such as yourself to be created for me to take with me.” 

“Your wish cannot be granted.” The dragon’s eyes flared red. Maguro grit his teeth. 

“And why not?” 

“A dragon cannot be made from nothing, you must create new dragon balls.” The dragon growled and Maguro flinched, the three beside him cowered from the tone. “Or use a host.” 

“Then I wish for you to make dragon balls for me, if you would please.” Maguro tried to make his tone polite. “None of us are Namekian therefore we cannot create dragon balls.”

“Your wish cannot be granted.” The dragon started again. 

“Why not this time?” Maguro screeched. 

“You will watch your tone.” Shenron growled. “You cannot create dragon balls from nothing.” 

“I’m very sorry Shenron.” Akami stepped in front of Prince Maguro who was seething. “If you cannot make dragon balls, then can you find us a host? Is there someone strong enough in this group or here on this planet who would fulfill our purpose?” 

“There are several strong possibilities on this planet.” Shenron spoke.

“If they become a host, how will the dragon balls come to us?” Maguro questioned. “Will the host be able to grant wishes?”

“They will host and form the dragon balls with their energy. Their life force becomes the dragon.” Shenron answered. “It’s a very old method.”

“Of the available hosts on this planet are any of them Saiyan?” Aji asked making everyone look at him. “If the host must die then why not one of them?” He asked angrily. 

“They are the most powerful, therefore the best candidates. But first the host’s body needs to be purified for the dragon energy.” Shenron agreed. “What will your wish be, I grow tired of your presence.” 

“I wish for the most powerful Saiyan on this planet to be purified to be a host for us and our dragon balls.” Aji stepped forward without talking it over with the others. 

“Your wish has been granted.” Shenron’s voice rumbled as a streak of lightning shot out of him into the distance. 

“Now I wish for you to make the Saiyan into a host.” Aji spoke up again. Another lightning bolt left from the dragon. 

“Your wish has been granted-”

“Wait! Remember your place Aji.” Toro pulled the man so he was behind the group. “Can you tell us how to find this host? When will the dragon come forth?” 

“The host is a half Saiyan named Gohan, the dragon will come forth when he has finished consuming all of his energy. I will leave now.” Shenron went back into the balls and they blasted in different directions. 

“Aji! You wasted the two wishes.” Akami slapped her brother. “You could have worded it better so we still had one left.”

“You overstepped.” Toro growled. Aji clenched his fists before bowing to their prince. 

“I’m sorry Prince Maguro. I should have held my tongue. I let my anger control me again.” 

Maguro sighed. “You are young and forgiven. Do not make this mistake again. Now we must move on and find this ‘Gohan’ before he becomes the dragon balls meant for us.” He looked at the dragon radar in Akami’s hand. “Leave that here, now that things are in motion, we do not want anyone to be able to track our movements. We do not know if that thing can be tracked. For now I will head back to the ship with Aji and Akami. He looked at Toro. I leave finding our host in your hands.” 

“Yes your majesty.” Toro bowed with a smile. 

XXX

“Whoever catches the biggest fish wins!” Trunks yelled running into the river with Goten hot on his heels. 

“I’ll be surprised if they can catch anything.” Tien laughed at the noise the two kids were making. Oolong and Puar joined them. Gohan laughed before heading over to them. 

“Well I don’t want to lose.” Gohan teased before going into the water too.

“Hey someone is summoning the dragon!” Oolong shouted causing everyone to look at the sky, it was still blue skies for their area but in the distance they could see the black clouds and magical glow of the dragon. 

“I wonder who it is.” Goku laughed floating up to look even tho they were too far away even for his sight. 

“Wish it was me.” Oolong moped. 

“Think Bulma needed something?” Krillin looked over at Yamcha who shrugged. 

“Can we go look at them?” Goten and Trunks flew up next to Goku to try and see. “They’re too far away!” 

“They’ll probably make their wish before you get there.” Gohan shouted up at them. He was about to yell again at Goten who had started floating in the direction of the dragon before Gohan felt a spark at his fingertips. It was the only warning he got before suddenly lightning came down and struck him. It hurt, it hurt so much. It felt like his entire body was being fried and rearranged. He didn’t even have time to scream before it was over in a flash, he staggered a couple of steps before falling forward in the river.

“Gohan!” Goku was there before his face hit the water catching him. Gohan grit his teeth, he could barely move his body at all. He felt as if a current was going thru his body keeping him from moving. “Gohan can you talk to me?” 

Goku pulled him out of the water and placed him on the shore. Gohan still couldn’t move but he could open his eyes. He looked up at his father who was looking at him worried. He realized everyone else was around him too. Gohan blinked at them trying to let them know he was stuck.

“Where did that lightning come from?” He heard Yamcha yelling.

“It was the dragon! I saw it!” Trunks was right there. “Goten you saw it too right?”

“Yeah! It came from the black clouds.” 

“What could have-”

Gohan felt the spark again but this time everyone around him was pushed away by an invisible force. And then there was another bolt of lightning. This time he felt like he was getting splashed with water, the charge was still there but the pain was washed away. Gohan gasped as charge went thru his body before leaving ... it reminded him of when Guru had awakened his powers on Namek all those years ago. The second it was over he realized he was standing again as if the lightning had moved him he wobbled on his feet when it released him. Everyone was staring at him in shock from where they had been knocked away. 

“What was that?” Krillin groaned sitting up. 

Gohan tried to answer him but everything went black. 

XXX


	2. Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being hit by lightning everyone struggles trying to figure out what is happening to Gohan and why is his tail back? The dragon balls are still involved. Disaster occurs. Piccolo doesn't think their relationship is secret anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags will be updated as the story progresses, I think I've tagged everything so far though.
> 
> This is my first fic I've written in a really long time, I started re-watching DB and DBZ and felt inspired! I've even started a dbz tumblr! (queerdragonball)
> 
> No lady character bashing (or any bashing)
> 
> No Beta!! Sorry don't have any friends in this fandom yet haha! I tried the catch all the mistakes though.

“What’s wrong?” Bulma stretched, she had been tinkering with a new invention on the table all day. She should probably get up and move. She looked over at Vegeta who had come into the kitchen for food but stopped what he was doing and was staring out the window. 

“Kakarot’s kid.” Vegeta mumbled frowning at the distance. “Gohan, something’s wrong with him.”

“Isn’t Trunks with them right now? Camping?” Bulma stood up worried. “What’s happening?”

“I’m going to go.” Vegeta moved to the front door and Bulma followed him nervously but when he opened the door, Goku was there holding Gohan. “Kakarot what happened?” 

“I don’t know.” Bulma didn’t like the tone of Goku’s voice. He was really worried. She looked at the teen in his arms and stepped in front of her partner grabbing Gohan’s wrist. There was a pulse but ... it was faint. 

“You can tell us what happened while we take him to lab 4.” Bulma started heading in the direction and they followed her easy. “Goku where is Trunks?”

“He’s still with everyone and Goten, they’re going to head back after they pack everything up.” Goku answered easily and Bulma gave herself a moment to let out a relieved breath. “We were catching fish and we saw someone had summoned the dragon but they were too far away for me see and then Gohan got hit by two hits of lightning before any of us could do anything.”

“Are you saying someone wished for him to get struck by lightning? Twice?” Bulma asked incredulously walking into her lab. “There has to be something else, put him on the table and see if you can find who made the wishes. Vegeta go with him.” 

Goku put Gohan on the metal table gently, looking over his son worried. Bulma bit her lip but thankfully Vegeta got his attention and they disappeared instantly. She sighed looking over Gohan, “What have you got yourself into now kid?” She moved to start hooking him up to her computers, thankfully back when Vegeta had injured himself more frequently with his training she had set up a medical station, they could do basic scans but if it was anything too complex ... they were going to have to take him to a hospital. 

Should she call Chichi? She would want to know ... Bulma shook her head, she would wait until she had answers to notify the other woman. It was better than to make her worry if it was nothing serious. 

But lightning? 

Had the dragon really been involved in this or was it some sort of freak accident, those usually followed the Son family around. Bulma removed his shirt as gently as possible as she connected him to her computers, she paused over a hicky on his chest and realized there were a few more. She giggled. “You are a normal teenager after all.” She teased, it would probably be good if she got him in a hospital gown before his family showed up and asked those kind of questions. “Don’t say I never did anything for you.” 

She ran into a problem removing his pants. A furry one. 

Bulma stared at the tail wide-eyed. She knew they were in no danger of the great ape appearing but why had his tail grown back? She carefully connected a few wires to it too just in case. It wouldn’t pay to ignore the tail. After that she got him into the gown pretty easy being careful of the wires but hiding the hickies. Bulma sighed looking at the passed out teen on the table. 

“Wake up buddy.” Bulma ran a hand through his hair. She took a deep breath before starting her scans on the computer, she would do a thorough one, so they didn’t miss anything. 

“Gohan!” Bulma jumped as Piccolo opened up the door to her lab, he looked like he had raced over here. 

“Piccolo you scared me!” She yelled but the Namekian didn’t seem to notice or care as he walked over to the teen on the table. “I’m scanning him now, if I can’t find anything I don’t know if we should take him to a hospital or-”

“What happened?” Piccolo looked at her and she gave him a sympathetic smile, he had always been close with Gohan. She turned back to her monitors and typed more commands in, to see if they could find anything. 

“I don’t know, he was camping with the boys and suddenly Vegeta was telling me something happened to Gohan and then Goku showed up at our door with him passed out like this. Goku mentioned someone summoning the dragon and Gohan got hit by lightning twice but I just can’t think of what that means.” She paused before pressing enter and moving away from the computer to give Piccolo her attention. “If someone wanted him dead then one lightning strike could have done it, I just don’t know if the dragon and this are combined like Goku things. He and Vegeta went to go see if they could find who made the wish.” 

“It was the dragon.” Piccolo whispered softly and she almost missed. Bulma looked up at him and then down at Gohan. 

“What do you mean? Is it something my computers will be able to pick up?”

“I don’t know.” Piccolo frowned and he gently moved Gohan’s hair from his face. Bulma made a mental note about that for later. “It’s his energy, I was meditating near where they were camping and his energy had vanished as if he had died but then it came back but ...”

“But?” Bulma leaned forward hoping he would continue. 

“Now he has two energies, they’re both low. Dangerously low. But one is his and one feels like Shenron’s.” Piccolo frowned. “We should take him to Dende.”

“Two energies?” Bulma frowned, that reminded her of something. “Like he’s pregnant? Vegeta said that I had two energies when I was pregnant with Trunks!” 

“He can’t get pregnant ... unless I’ve horribly misunderstood human anatomy.” Piccolo paused looking at Bulma who let out a small laugh. “There are two energies but I can’t explain it.”

“My computers should be done soon and if they haven’t found anything I’m going to come with you to Dende.” She looked at her computer, it wasn’t showing anything yet. “He has his tail again too.” She eyed the Namekian, curious ... “And a bunch of hickies.” 

Piccolo’s face took on a shade she had never seen before and she gaped at him. “They’re your hickies aren’t they??” 

“Can we focus on making sure he’s alright please?” The Namekian growled keeping his eyes on Gohan and she grinned. He wasn’t going to deny it and that was good. Chichi had told her that Gohan had been a little goofy lately, getting his holiday homework done faster, spending more time training with Piccolo ... or not training. The little devil, she giggled in her head. She had always wondered about Gohan’s tastes but if he was happy then that was what mattered. Knowing their history she knew Piccolo wouldn’t let harm come to the teen.

“Of course.” She smiled. “I’m happy for the two of you by the way. When did it start?”

“A few weeks ago.” Piccolo offered. “He doesn’t want everyone to know yet.”

“Okay.” Bulma nodded. “Probably a little weird since you wanted to kill his dad and all.” She wanted to tease him a little. 

“Who hasn’t tried to kill Goku.” Piccolo smirked and she laughed before looking back at Gohan. 

“You’ll make sure he’s happy right?” She suddenly felt a little protective. 

“I will.” Piccolo answered quietly and gently took the teen’s hand. “Both of his power levels are fluctuating a little bit.” 

“Let me see-” Bulma was about to move back to her computer before she felt a zap, like as if someone had just shocked her with a small toy. 

“Get down!” Suddenly Piccolo was there pushing her to the ground and she felt a blast like a bomb go off in the lab. She curled up in a ball as she heard the room around them collapse. The man above her blocking her from debri grunted a few times and then it was quiet. She kept her eyes closed. “Are you okay?” Piccolo hissed in pain. 

“Yeah, thank you. Are you okay? Can you move?” She was still worried about dust so she kept her eyes closed. 

“Give me a second.” The Namekian slowly moved and she did open her eyes now realized he was lifting up a pile of rubble off of them. He moved the rocks and she could see he was bleeding in a few areas, he had been hit by the blast full force.

“Piccolo you saved me.” She moved to check out his injuries but he waved her off. “You’re injured!” She was about to argue but she saw the man was heading over to the boy who was now laying in the middle of a crater. “Gohan!” She ran down towards him before looking around, the lab was gone ... and there was a huge hole in her house now. She really hoped none of the animals had been caught in the blast. “What happened?”

“His energy surged, he’s not awake to control it.” Piccolo started picking off the frayed wires and gown off of Gohan, they had been damaged in the blast. He hit him with some sort of ray that gave him clothes, this time a shirt and sweatpants but no shoes. Bulma bent over and checked his pulse.

“His pulse is stronger. I’ll have no idea what my computers had scanned.” She sighed sitting on the ground. “That was close.” 

“Bulma!” She looked over to see Vegeta and Goku appear. She waved at them with a tired smile. 

“I’m fine! Piccolo saved me!” She realized she didn’t really want to stand up just yet. She smiled up at Vegeta who came to her side. “I’m really fine, he took all the damage.”

“We felt Gohan’s energy.” Goku went over to his son. “Did he wake up?”

“No but he had a surge of energy and since he isn’t awake to stop it ...” Piccolo motioned at the chaos around them. “I suggest we move him to the Lookout so that Dende can look at him.”

“Did you find anyone?” Bulma asked but Vegeta shook his head but held up her dragon radar.

“What are you doing with that?” She asked confused. 

“It was over there, we think they must have gotten their hand on it somehow.” Vegeta handed it to her. “What do you think?” 

“This is mine ... and it doesn’t look like any of the old ones I lost over the years.” Bulma huffed looking at it. She looked back over at Gohan. “I can figure this out later. I wasn’t able to properly scan him but his tail has grown back. And Piccolo says he has two energies now- his own and Shenron’s.”

“I can only feel his.” Goku frowned. “Its stronger than it was before but ... only his. Are you sure?” He looked at the Namekian who paused.

“When his energy was weak there were two of them but now ... all I feel is Gohan’s.” Piccolo frowned. “I wonder if what I felt earlier was residue from the wish? Whatever it had been.”

“Okay, if you’re coming to the Lookout grab my shoulder.” Goku lifted his son off the ground. Immediately Piccolo put his hand on his shoulder, Vegeta helped Bulma up before they both touched his shoulder too. 

Bulma wobbled on her feet when they were suddenly at the Lookout. She looked around surprised, she was never going to get used to that. Dende was already running over to them as Goku put Gohan on the ground gently. She walked over to see if she could help at all but the younger Namekian had started scanning Gohan with a glow from his hands. 

“What happened?” Dende asked worried, Bulma watched him frown as he scanned over Gohan. 

“We were camping and someone summoned the dragon. We don’t know if it has anything to do with each other but Gohan was struck by lightning twice. His power just disappeared and then recently it came back.” Goku said quickly and Bulma put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She might not be able to help but she she could do that. Goku nodded at her. 

“His tail has grown back.” She offered pointing at it. “We don’t have to worry about a full moon but could that have anything to do with it.”

“Can you sense Shenron’s energy?” Piccolo asked, interrupting her. She looked and Dende nodded his head before putting his hands down. 

“No I don’t sense Shenron’s ... but what ever has happened, the dragon is involved ... but I don’t understand.” Dende frowned. “Did he have a tail before?”

“Yeah, Saiyans are born with tails ... Gohan had one too even though Goten and Trunks didn’t.” Goku looked down at Gohan’s tail. “I got rid of mine with I was a teenager, Vegeta lost his in his fight with the Earth and Gohan hasn’t had one in a long time. I would say since he was six or seven.”

“From what I can tell his body is trying to balance out his power again from whatever happened to him when he was struck with those bolts of energy. Otherwise he is fine but he might not wake up until his energy finds a balance.” Dende looked apologetic at the news. “I’m going to see if I can find answers in the library but it might help if I have a better understanding of Saiyan physiology since he is half Saiyan. As for what the wish was and why ... I’m afraid we’re going to have to wait unless we can find the ones that wanted this.”

“I’ll help you with the Saiyan physiology.” Vegeta nodded and Dende smiled. 

“Earlier he destroyed my lab because of a burst of energy.” Bulma chimed in. “Is it alright to leave him up here? I’m pretty sure I would have died if it wasn’t for Piccolo.” 

“Of course, we should be able to handle anything he throws at us.” Dende smiled as Mr.Popo came out of the house. “Mr.Popo please take Gohan to one of the rooms where his energy won’t destroy the temple.” 

“I’ll carry him.” Goku picked him up and Bulma watched as Piccolo hesitated to follow them. She gently pushed him forward and he moved to follow. Vegeta raised his eyebrow and she winked. Dende was busy watching the group go inside with a worried look. 

“Dende is there something else?” Bulma moved over to him. 

“I can’t know for sure ...” Dende shook his head. “I need to do some research but if Piccolo felt Shenron’s energy earlier ... Do you mind coming with me and answering some questions?” He looked over at Vegeta who nodded. Bulma followed them a few steps behind. 

She looked down the hall that the others had gone, Gohan was going to be okay. 

He had to be. 

Right?

XXX

Piccolo hesitated at the door as Goku and Mr.Popo made Gohan comfortable in the bed. Goku was furious, he could read the energy off the other. Furious he couldn’t do anything for his son, furious he hadn’t been able to find the people who made the wish ... furious at feeling helpless. Goku leaned over smoothing out his son’s hair before putting a kiss on his forehead. 

“Piccolo ... do you think he’ll wake up soon?” Goku stayed by the bed and stared at his son. 

“I don’t know but I do know that Gohan is strong.” Piccolo stepped into the room and Mr.Popo left them alone. “If he’ll wake up when his energy balances itself out then I think we should have faith, he’s always had incredible power. If there’s something more than that going on then Dende will find out.”

“I don’t know what to tell Chichi.” Goku looked at Piccolo then.

“Tell her what we know. Bring her here.” Piccolo knew better than to keep that woman from either of her children. “I’m going to stay with him, if anything happens you’ll be the first to know.” 

Goku smiled a small smile and nodded. He turned to face Piccolo then and put a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you. I know you two have been closer as of late and I think Gohan would like it if you were here when he woke up.” 

Piccolo looked at him surprised and Goku laughed rubbing his nose. 

“He tries to be discreet but I think sometimes he isn’t paying full attention. I’m not going to say anything because that’s up to him and you but thank you. He’s been really happy lately.” Goku glanced worried at his son one more time before heading out of the room. “I’ll be back with Chichi and Goten.” 

“I’ll be here.” Piccolo nodded as the man left, he looked over at Gohan who looked to be having a peaceful sleep. “Kid, I’m starting to think you attract danger.” He leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss to Gohan’s lips. “Wake up soon.”

He moved to the far end of the room and prepared to meditate. Something about all of this was bothering him but he couldn't tell if it was himself or ringing a bell with Kami or Nail. He needed to think back on what he had gained from them and their knowledge. Piccolo offered Gohan one more glance before closing his eyes to try and find some answers. 

XXX

“Sir I have found the one called Gohan.” Toro brought himself to Prince Maguro. Their ship was still on earth but hidden. They would have to launch soon if they wanted to keep it that way. 

“Were you able to see if he had become a host?” The prince asked eagerly.

“I believe so, he was unconscious but I overheard others talking about his energy. It was hard for me to get a read on him without any of our equipment but it seems like none of the others around him know what has happened.” Toro bowed. “I will admit I have lost track of him but I do believe if we keep an eye on the Capsule Corporation where we found the dragon ball device then we will find him again and be able to keep a better eye.” 

“What if he turns into our dragon before we find him again?” Aji asked worried. 

“If he is the strongest on this planet then I believe it will take more time than a day. Remember we talked to those few on Namekians. We should observe him from afar, if we get found out by the Saiyans I’m sure they will target us.” Akami frowned.

“Let them come.” Aji growled. “We’re all strong enough to take on a few ourselves.” 

“No.” They stopped and looked at their prince. “Set up surveillance, we should not only watch our host but see how many Saiyan’s have infiltrated this planet. We might be able to get information from them.”

“But!” 

“Aji.” The prince glared at his younger companion who went silent and bowed. “We will not leave this planet without the dragon balls or with Saiyans still here. I swore to my parents to kill the entire race and I will not fail them.” He paused to see if anyone was going to interrupt him again. “Akami, set up surveillance. Toro go get supplies for us. I suggest we leave the planet for now and watch from a distance. I don’t want all of our plans to be ruined because of a slip up. Aji you go prepare our engines. We’re going to stay in stealth mode.” 

“Yes sir!” 

XXX

Dende yawned sitting up from the table. Vegeta had given him detailed notes on Saiyan physiology and Bulma had even been a help with the difference of Saiyans and Humans. A little more than necessary, Dende blushed but it was all to help Gohan. 

He had an idea but it didn’t make any sense. No one had done that method in hundreds of years and even then most of it had been hearsay or myths passed on to generations. Maybe it had never been done and had been a warning instead. Still he needed to get to the bottom of it. If he was right then ... the people who made the wish were going to be coming for Gohan. 

Dende glanced at the door to the library. Mr.Popo had told him that Goku had gone to get his wife and son, it was good for them to be around Gohan. He was sure they would help him wake up. Dende stretched, Piccolo was staying with Gohan until the family got back. 

The guardian frowned at his notes. 

He hoped he was wrong. 

XXX

Gohan sighed opening his eyes, he couldn’t remember his dream but it had been nice. He thought there might have been a flame or a warm feeling. He frowned blinking up at the ceiling, this wasn’t his room. He sat up looking around, where was he? What- then he remembered they had been camping and he had been hit by lightning? Light? It had been intense and powerful and then ... 

“Gohan!” Piccolo was at the door looking at him surprised, he had a glass of water in his hand. He sped over to Gohan, putting the water down on a table and grabbing his face looking him over. “You’re awake.” He breathed out before pulling Gohan into a hug causing the teen to blush and hug him back. 

“Where are we?” Gohan asked quietly enjoying the warmth. “I remember getting hit by lightning? Maybe twice? And then I woke up here.”

“You’re at the Lookout.” Piccolo pulled away and looked him in the eyes. “Everyone was so worried, your father just left to get your mother and Goten. We took you to Bulma’s first to get scanned but you had an energy surge and blew up her lab- she’s okay, I was there. We brought you here ... you’ve only been out for a few hours.” 

“Bulma is really okay?” Gohan asked and sighed relieved when Piccolo nodded. He leaned against the larger man, enjoying his presence. “Do we know what happened?”

“A lot of theories but we weren’t able to find who made the wish.” Piccolo kept his voice low. “How do you feel? Your energy seems to have balanced out.”

“I feel ...” Gohan took a deep breath and focused on his body. “Fine. I feel ... alright? But that seems weird right?”

“Dende is looking for an answer.” Piccolo pressed his forehead against Gohan’s. “I’m just glad you’re awake.” 

“Me too. Sorry for worrying you.” Gohan smiled before frowning and squirming. “What am I sitting on?” 

“That might be your tail.” Piccolo got up and helped Gohan out of the bed, the teen stared at his tale in shock. “At least we don’t have to worry about the moon?” 

“The first lightning strike ... I had felt like I was being remade or reassembled.” Gohan muttered gently petting the fur on his tail. “It was painful, I didn’t think I could bare it. The second one, didn’t hurt but there was this energy and ...” He pressed his hand against his stomach.

“We should go to Dende so you can talk to him.” Piccolo looked at him worried. 

“First.” Gohan moved closer to him making the other man look him in the eye. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine now that you’ve woken up.” Piccolo smiled. “Try not to make a habit of this.” 

“I’ll do my best.” Gohan grinned stretching up to his toes and kissing Piccolo on the lips gently. He sighed. “I feel better now.” Piccolo growled moving a hand to his neck and pulling him into a deeper kiss. Gohan wrapped his arms around the taller Namekian’s neck letting out a small groan. It seemed that Piccolo knew exactly when he needed air and pulled away, he took a few breaths as Piccolo hugged him tightly. 

There was a loud thump that made both of them turn to see Goku scratching his head apologetically, Goten was staring at them in shock and Chichi had passed out on the floor. 

“Sorry ... I shouldn’t have teleported directly in here.” Goku laughed nervously. 

“Mom!” Gohan let go of Piccolo and went to his mother. She was fine, just fainted. Goku picked her up and gently put her on the bed. Gohan sighed before looking over at his little brother who was still staring at him wide-eyed and open mouthed. “Goten?”

“Nice Goku.” Piccolo growled annoyed. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know Gohan was awake.” Goku looked at Gohan before pulling him into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re awake! How do you feel?” 

“GOHAN WAS KISSING MR.PICCOLO!” Everyone froze and looked at Goten who had finally gained his motion back. He was grinning so wide Gohan felt a little worried for his cheeks. “Mr.Piccolo is going to be my brother! Trunks is going to be so jealous!” 

Piccolo was now blushing an endearing shade of purple and was staring at Goten a little horrified. Gohan moved in front of his little brother to take the brunt of the attention. “Goten I-”

“I can’t believe you’re making out with someone who tried to kill our father.” Goten said awed. “Does this mean you’re getting married? ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE KIDS?” 

“Hmm.” Gohan quickly put his hand over Goten’s mouth as his mother slowly woke up. Goku froze next to Piccolo. Chichi blinked a few times before sitting up. She looked around at everyone. She opened her mouth and then closed it. She glared at Goku. “Did you know about this?”

“Mom -” Gohan stopped when she held up a hand. 

“How long has this been going on?” She crossed her arms. 

“Since Bulma’s holiday party.” Gohan kept his hand over Goten’s mouth. “It hasn’t been very long ... I wanted to wait to tell people but-”

“How many people know?” Chichi asked. 

“Vegeta ... and Krillin.” Gohan looked at Piccolo who shrugged. 

“Korin and Goku.” The Namekian added. Gohan looked at his father surprised earning a laugh. 

“I was waiting for you to tell me.” Goku scratched his head. He looked over to his wife worried. “Chichi?” 

She huffed before angrily walking over to Piccolo. Gohan gave his father a worried look but Goku winked at him. That did little to loosen his worries. Gohan looked at Piccolo who glanced at him before returning a glare at Chichi. 

“Do you love my son?” Chichi leaned into this personal space. Piccolo blinked at her surprised. 

“Yes.” 

“You know he’s not like you meatheads and he doesn’t like fighting. He wants to be a scholar.” Chichi crossed her arms.

“Of course.” Piccolo leaned over her. 

“I want grandkids.” Chichi poked his chest. “So you’re going to have to adopt.” 

Gohan blinked at his mother surprised. He looked over at Piccolo who was looking at his mother as if she was crazy. A laughed bubbled in his throat. “Mother?” 

“Oh son I’m not an idiot.” She looked at Gohan with a smirk. “Please release your brother so he can breath.” Gohan looked down at Goten who was turning an interesting color. He released him immediately and Goten gasped for air. 

“Sorry.” 

“I knew something was up, I’m not going to say I’m not surprised.” Chichi walked to her son. “But you’ve been so happy lately and as long as you keep up your grades and go to university. And adopt lots of children.” She gave Gohan a look. “Then as long as you are happy, I have nothing else to say.”

“Mother!” Gohan hugged her before grinning at Piccolo over her shoulder. Goku punched Piccolo in the shoulder making the Namekian glare at him. Goten ran circles around Gohan and Chichi, cheering. 

“Wait! I thought Gohan was sick.” Goten stopped and glared at his father, “He’s fine! He’s well enough to make out with Mr.Piccolo.”

“That’s right! Honey how are you feeling?” Chichi grabbed Gohan’s face. 

“I’m fine.” Gohan laughed before he fell over, all of the energy leaving him. “Ugh.”

“GOHAN HAS A TAIL!!” Goten gripped it showing it to everyone. 

“Gohan!” Piccolo and Chichi went over to him while Goku grabbed Goten and gently pulled the tail out of his hands. 

“Goten, you can’t grab his tail. It’s a weakness for Saiyans.” Goku held his son who nodded. 

“Sorry Gohan.” 

“I don’t remember that happening before.” Gohan left Piccolo lift him up. “It’s okay Goten, I keep forgetting I have it again.”

“Are you keeping it?” Chichi asked running her hand gently over the fur. “I’m going to need to adjust your clothing.”

“I don’t know yet ... I hadn’t really thought of it.” Gohan looked at his tail. He had a strong urge to keep it. “I guess I’ll keep it for now. We were about to go talk to Dende.” 

“Let’s go!” Goku carried Goten out of the room and Chichi sighed with a smile before following her husband. She turned to look at the both of them before leaving the room. 

“Welcome to the family Mr.Piccolo.” She sniffed, “I was serious about the grandkids.” And she walked out. 

“I don’t want to tell your mother that I can have eggs.” Piccolo whispered to Gohan, pulling him close for a quick moment. “But I’m surprised she took it so well.” 

“Same.” Gohan looked up at him happily. “I was worried when she didn’t start yelling.” 

“No regrets?” Piccolo smirked already knowing the answer. Gohan rolled his eyes amused. 

“Not about this.” Gohan gave him a quick kiss. “Let’s go.” 

They found Dende in the library where they gave a chair to Chichi and made Gohan sit in one, he sighed knowing better than to argue. He looked over at the young guardian who looked a little tired. 

“I haven’t found anything out yet but I am glad to see you’re awake Gohan.” Dende smiled. “I’m sorry I haven’t been much help but I’m going to keep looking for answers.” The guardian paused and looked over at Piccolo and Goku. “I’m afraid if I can’t find anything here it might be a good idea to send Gohan over to New Namek so that the elder can look over him but I would like that to be a last resort since your energy just balanced out Gohan.”

“Don’t worry Dende I’m sure you’ll be able to find the answer.” Gohan grabbed his friend’s hand. “Have faith in yourself and right now I feel fine!”

“Thank you Gohan.” Dende smiled. “I will find the answer and I think before Bulma and Vegeta left, she had thought of something to about the dragon radar being used. I might suggest you go there next?”

XXX

Vegeta blinked at the image Bulma had pulled up on their tv. 

“When was this?” He asked with a frown. 

“The day of my holiday party.” Bulma glared at the screen. “I just remembered that I had randomly woken up on my bed that day but I didn’t remember falling asleep. So I went over the security cameras and found this. Somehow these two ... weren’t sensed at all by the house security and they were the ones that took the dragon radar.” She looked at Vegeta. “Do you recognize them?”

He shook his head. “They’re obviously alien.” He looked at the feed of the female alien carrying Bulma to the bed. Both aliens had red skin and long shaggy hair that reminded him of Raditz. They both had a crest on their sleeves that also seemed familiar. Vegeta closed his eyes and tried to think back but nothing was coming up, they weren’t from his time with Freeza after planet Vegeta had blown up. 

“Vegeta?” He opened his eyes to look at Bulma who looked at him worried. 

“They seem familiar, the crest on their sleeve in particular.” He pointed at the screen. “But I think if I’ve seen it before it was when I was very young. I’ll have to think about it.” 

“Okay, while you do that I’m going to up the security on this place! They were able to get past it! Can you imagine what kind of perverts sneak up on a beauty like me while she’s changing? I do not like this.” She stood up and stretched. “I’ll be out back in lab 8 if you need me.” 

He nodded, thankful she left the image up so he could look at the crest. He huffed when she kissed his cheek with a giggle before leaving. She was right, if they had been able to get passed her advanced security then they were far more advanced that the Earth would be ready for. But the crest on their sleeves. 

There was something about the crest. 

“Vegeta!” The prince of all Saiyans did not jump when the Son family was suddenly in the room with him but he did glare at Goku who smiled at him. 

“What?” He scowled before looking over at Gohan. “I see your energy is back to normal, that was quicker than I was made to believe.” 

“Why is Bulma undressing in the video?” Goten asked and Vegeta flushed red. 

“GET OUT!!” He boomed. 

“I’m going to find Bulma.” Chichi picked up her youngest son and left the room. Gohan and Piccolo had turned to face the wall but Goku was suddenly at the screen looking at it closer. Vegeta wanted to kill him ... so badly. 

“Who are these guys?” Goku asked. “They look foreign.”

“They’re the ones who stole the dragon radar, now will you please leave the room with your son and his Namekian before I blast you through the house.” Vegeta seethed. “I will bring you a print out.” 

“Okay! We’ll be in the kitchen.” Goku left through the door and Piccolo sighed following and pulling Gohan by the arm.

“S-sorry!” Gohan shouted from the hallway. 

Vegeta made a print out of the aliens zoomed in with his partner not in the picture. He waited a moment taking a few calming breaths. It would be better to leave Goku alive for now. Bulma seemed to care about him and Trunks liked his offspring. This was the only thing keeping him from killing the man he told himself mentally. 

Vegeta walked into the kitchen where Goku and Gohan were eating while Piccolo watched Gohan’s tail go back and forth. Vegeta looked at the tail and smirked, it had been a while since he had seen one so open and vocal with its movements. He would admit he had been a little upset when his son had been born without out but it was part of the chance you took with half-breeds. He walked in and put the print out on the table. All three men immediately gave him their attention. 

“These two are the ones that took the dragon radar. They managed to sneak past our security and put Bulma to sleep. This seems to have happened before that holiday party the woman threw. They are alien but I do not recognize them. There’s something about the crest on their arms that I find familiar but I believe it must have been from when I was really young.” He moved the picture so the three others could look at it from a better point. “Bulma’s currently updating the security here but she doesn’t know anything about them either.” 

“Do you think they have something against Saiyans?” Piccolo asked and Gohan looked at him surprised. 

“Do you think I was being targeted? But ... other than getting my tail back I feel fine.” Gohan flexed his hands looking at them. 

“Even though your energy feels fine now, there was something wrong with it earlier.” Piccolo frowned at the picture. “Shenron’s energy was there.” 

“You could be a walking time bomb.” Vegeta thought about it, ignoring the looks of surprise he got. “Our race had a lot of enemies even before Freeza took over. If I recognize this crest it has to be while we were under his rule but before the planet was blown up.” 

“We can’t possibly guess their intentions.” Goku frowned at the picture. “They might have come here for help and powered Gohan up like the Kais.” 

“Maybe we can get Bulma to connect to the camera’s around the city and see if we can do some sort of recognition program.” Gohan picked up the picture. “These guys would definitely stand out.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Goku grinned at his son. “Then we can ask them what they did and if it’s something bad, we can reverse it with the dragon balls when they become active again.” 

“But the chances of it being bad are pretty high?” Gohan asked worried. Vegeta sighed, the kid was probably targeted because of his power. Of course the more pacifist Saiyan he had ever met would be the strongest. 

“They could have been allies.” Vegeta shrugged. “They fact that I don’t recognize them could mean that their planet or race was destroyed by us or never used by Freeza. Their technology is advanced which would have been useful for our armies.” 

“We should ask Bulma about that facial recognition thing.” Piccolo put a hand on Gohan’s shoulder and Vegeta glanced to see the boy’s tail was swaying with a nervous tick. 

“She’s in lab #6. I’m going to think some more on the crest.” Vegeta handed the paper to Gohan who took it with a nod. Vegeta went back to the security room to think about it.

XXX

Gohan, Piccolo and Goku made their way to lab #6. Gohan had to pause at the huge crater and part of the house that was under construction. He couldn’t believe that he did this while he was sleeping. Piccolo touched his shoulder reassuringly. Gohan moved forward following the other man and his father. It was like a punch in the gut, when he had woken up feeling fine he had been elated but it was almost as if he hadn’t been thinking of it logically. He still didn’t know what had happened to him or why ... and his dream. He realized he had forgot to mention it to Dende. He would remember for the next time. 

Goku paused on knocking on the door to lab #6 and Gohan looked up realizing he could hear what Bulma and his mother were saying. 

“Did you know that Namekians lay eggs? Piccolo’s father King Piccolo made a ton of his minions that way, from what I hear they were crazy monsters but that’s also how Namekians make other Namekians.” Bulma was speaking. “I talked to Kami about it once and even Dende. I mean after going to planet Namek I was so curious as to how their entire race was only men.” 

“So Piccolo can lay eggs and they would be little Namekians? Do you think Gohan could get him pregnant?” Chichi asked and Gohan pushed passed his laughing father to slam the door open. His face bright red. Both of the women looked at him surprised. 

“That’s enough of that!” He squeaked and Bulma barked out a laugh. 

“Your face is hilarious right now Gohan.” She wiped away a tear from her laughing. “Are you done with Vegeta?” 

Gohan put a hand over his face with a sigh. He looked over as Goku took the piece of paper from him and went over to talk to Bulma about their thoughts. Gohan dared to look back at Piccolo who was behind him. The Namekian huffed at him amused. “Well they aren’t wrong. We do lay eggs and they are all male.” 

“Is it a little early to be talking about that?” Gohan whispered. “I mean they both found out today.” 

“I would rather them be like this then upset.” Piccolo pulled Gohan’s head back so he could kiss his forehead. Gohan glared at the taller man knowing that he was avoiding the problem but he had a point. Gohan blushed a little thinking about having a bunch of little Namekians around the house ... they would be so cute. 

“I’m going to marry you, we’re going to get a house and if you’re okay with it ... I would like to raise children with you.” Gohan whispered so only Piccolo could hear and the Namekian’s face blushed bright purple. Gohan kissed him on the cheek before going over to Bulma and his parents. He blushed a little when he realized his mother had been watching them. She gave him a small smile before returning her attention to Bulma and Goku. 

“I don’t think it would be that hard.” Bulma scratched her head looking at the picture. “I can set that up tonight and have my computer let me know if they find anything. I could probably give the pictures to local police but I would rather not get them involved if there’s a chance it’s something against the Saiyans. I know we can wish the people back with the dragon but I would like to not have to do that every couple of years you know?”

“Do you need any help? I don’t know if I can offer much but -” Gohan began but Bulma shook her head. 

“Honestly I can get Trunks to do this, it’s not that hard. You should go home and rest.” She laughed. “I’m glad you’re awake.”

“I’m sorry about your other lab.” Gohan looked at his feet. 

“It’s fine! Your boyfriend saved me!” Bulma laughed and Gohan blushed. “Now you guys head home and take it easy tomorrow. I’ll keep you updated if I find anything.” 

“Thanks Bulma!” Goku scratched her head before looking at the group around him. “Where’s Goten?”

“He’s probably with Trunks. We can fly home if you want to go now.” Gohan smiled when Piccolo came with him to get his brother. He glanced at the man. 

“What?” Piccolo huffed. 

“I was wondering if you were going to come home with me.” Gohan blushed. “Now that my family knows.” 

“I would have come even if they didn’t know.” Piccolo gave him a look. “You had a lot happen today and I would like to be nearby just in case.”

Gohan shyly moved his hand to grab Piccolo’s hand. He ducks his head and smiles at the taller alien who smirks back. “Thanks.” 

“Goten was telling the truth.” They stopped to see Trunks floating above them and Goten right behind him laughing. The purpled haired boy crossed his arms. “That’s not fair, Goten says he’s your favorite now Mr.Piccolo.”

“I don’t like either of you.” Piccolo sighed. 

“You’re so funny Mr.Piccolo.” Goten laughed. 

“Hey we’re going home.” Gohan flew up to meet his brother. “We’ll see you later Trunks.” He waved at the other boy who was now staring at my tail. 

“Goten said if someone grabs your tail it makes you weak. You should fix that.” Trunks huffed, they all turned when they heard Bulma call his name. “Okay I’ll see you guys later!”

“Sometimes he sounds so much like Vegeta it’s scary.” Piccolo mumbled to Gohan as they started moving for home. 

“True.” Gohan laughed before looking at his brother. “Goten you’re not Piccolo’s favorite, I am.” He snickered when Goten pouted.

“That’s not fair.” 

“Maybe I won’t come to your house.” Piccolo huffed. “Your mother is the only one with the proper reaction to me.” 

“Tough guy.” Gohan teased. 

XXX

Gohan laid back in his bed. When they had gotten to his house, Piccolo had went off to meditate and hadn’t come inside, even after dinner. His father had gone out and talked to him and then sparred a little bit. But Gohan found him missing his presence. It was weird. It was as if ... something in his chest or inside of him ... 

He looked over at his window and opened it leaning out. With all the lights off it was easy to see the tree line around the house, he looked around looking for Piccolo. 

“Is everything alright?” Gohan looked over to see Piccolo meditating next to the window. He smiled with a sigh of relief. 

“I just wanted to see you.” Gohan leaned on the windowsill and watching the Namekian. Whatever he had been feeling before had stopped. He closed his eyes when Piccolo reached over and brushed his bangs away. 

“You should rest.” Piccolo’s voice was gently. Gohan grabbed his hand before it could retreat. 

“Will you come inside?” He whispered looking at the Namekian. 

“Only if it means you’ll go to sleep.” Piccolo conceded letting the teen pull him inside. Gohan grinned sitting on his bed. Piccolo looked around the room trying to decide the best place to be. 

“Would you be comfortable lying next to me?” Gohan asked, his bed wasn’t large but it might work. Piccolo gave him a look. “I still promise to sleep? Or you can sit at my desk?” He moved to crawl under the blanket and grinned we he heard Piccolo taking off his cape and turban. He looked over to see the man take off his shoes, he made room for the Namekian. Piccolo paused before getting in the bed with Gohan. He didn’t know how to lay and was thankful when Gohan maneuvered them so he was using Piccolo’s shoulder as a pillow, it wasn’t a bad way to rest. He could still meditate while Gohan slept. 

“Thanks.” Gohan sighed against him. “Your warm ...”

“Glad to be of use.” Piccolo snorted amused, Gohan had still seemed awake but apparently this was all he needed to fall asleep. 

“Like the flame.” Gohan sighed and then he was asleep. 

Piccolo made sure Gohan was fully covered by the blanket before closing his eyes. It wasn’t that cold of a night, he wondered if Gohan was getting sick ... or if maybe this was a side effect to his energy being messed with. Or maybe he just wanted to cuddle and didn’t want to ask flat out. 

Piccolo huffed before meditating on his energy and all of the energies in the Son household. 

XXX

“So he’s basically living with you guys now?” Videl looked at Gohan surprised as they ate lunch. It was the first day back to school after the break. 

“He’s just hanging around until we figure out what happened to me.” Gohan had told her almost everything. “Though it’s been nice.”

“Well that explains why it’s been so hard to get in touch with you.” Videl huffed. “You said you would help me train.” 

“You should come over today.” Gohan thought about it. “If you want. You know Krillin? He’s coming over with his family since he’s been a little worried since the camping trip. But he’s a great fighter and maybe he can offer tips since he’s 100% human.” 

“That would be nice actually.” Videl smiled. “I’m starting to think you aliens have an unfair advantage. Also Erasa thinks your tail is some weird trend and she wants to get the other students in on it.” 

“She could tell?” Gohan blushed putting a hand over his tail he had wrapped around his waist. He was getting used to controlling it. He had hoped no one would noticed. 

“Students here may not be as smart as you but they aren’t blind.” Videl scoffed. “Don’t worry I’m sure the rumors will die off.”

“Rumors?” Gohan groaned. 

“Hey Pensa, what’s this?” Gohan looked over to the girls at the front of the class. One of them was holding a white circular rock. He frowned ... was that a ... 

“You would not believe it. Over break that thing fell from the sky and made this huge hole in my backyard.” Pensa handed it over to her friend. “It’s not that heavy but I got my little brother to dig it out and my dad said one of his friends likes to collect rocks or something so I’m taking it by after school.”

“What is it?” Videl whispered. 

“I think it might be a dragon ball.” Gohan shrugged. “It isn’t active though.” 

“Hey Pensa! Can I see it?” Videl waved the girls over. “Gohan might know what kind of rock it is.”

“Really?” Pensa brought it over. “You mean it’s not a meteor?”

“I don’t know. Videl is just saying things.” Gohan laughed nervously before glaring at Videl. “But-” He reached forward to touch it-

Gohan felt a spark. 

It hit him like a wave. Power surging like it had when he had been struck by lightning from the dragon but this time he could see everything. It was all moving in slow motion. Pensa pulling her hand away in surprise. Videl slowly standing and staying something. He could feel the energy of every student in the room, then everyone in the school building, he could sense everyone around the school until he felt everyone in the city. It was all happening so fast. 

The flame. 

The warmth.

He felt it again, this time coming from his stomach and moving to cover his whole body. It was building up and he felt like his body was going to explode. He wanted to warn everyone but there wasn’t enough time. 

Energy exploded out of him. It was a giant wave and he hit the ground. The school building was shaking, the earth was shaking? He could hear people yelling as the school collapsed above them. Everything in his body felt like it being burned from the inside, the fire no longer calming but searing his flesh. He cried out forcing himself to his feet to catch the ceiling falling above them.

“Everyone get out of the building now!!” He could hear Videl helping people up while he kept the roof from crashing on the students in their classroom, they exited out of the window with Videl helping them down. Gohan watched horrified as the rest of the school building collapsed around him. Then with the building out of the way he saw the building around the school, some of them crashing to the ground, some of them with shattered windows but there were people screaming everywhere. 

“Gohan! Let go!” He looked at Videl who was trying to move him from the school building. “You need to let go!” She screamed and he dropped the piece of the roof he had been holding. She looked relieved for a second before looking around. “They need us Gohan.” 

“I did this.” He whispered horrified. “I did this!” 

“No! Gohan!” Videl grabbed his face. “This isn’t your fault. Now I need you to decide if you’re going to help me as Saiyaman or if you’re going to go home. Those are your only two options!.” 

He immediately went to his watch and turned on the Saiyaman uniform. Videl gave him a small smile before doing the same. And then they went to work. 

Trying to fix the mess he made. 

It took hours. 

He carried the injured to the hospital or nearby ambulances. His whole body hurt with every movement. He lifted buildings and debri off of survivors. The searing pain reminding him that he did this. He helped move debri for emergency vehicles. Everyone was talking about an earthquake. How the epicenter had been the school. 

He helped them remove bodies from the school. 

He threw his helmet down on the ground with as much force as he could and it was ruined. He knew Videl was behind him, making sure he was getting a private moment. There must have been no one else nearby because she hugged him and it didn’t help. It made him feel worse. He let out a sob, tears falling freely down his face.

“I did this.” He cried collapsing to the floor. She went with him easily and not letting go of her hug. “I didn’t take any of this seriously. I felt fine ... I should have known.” 

“You didn’t do this.” Videl whispered. “This isn’t your fault Gohan. The dragon ball triggered it. I have it by the way but I’ll hand it over to your dad or Piccolo.” 

“Videl ... all those people died. We can’t used the dragon balls for a year.” He shivered suddenly freezing. It was so cold. He took a deep breath. And another one. “We can’t bring them back for a year.” 

“Gohan you’re shivering.” Videl moved around him to touch his forehead. “You’re freezing!” 

“I need to keep going.” He got back up to his feet, it was a struggle. Everything hurt so much. He moved to go back out but Videl grabbed him. 

“No, I called your family they’re coming to get you. We’ve done all we can, we need to let the professionals do their job.” She looked around. “Dammit where-”

“Gohan?” Videl jumped as Goku and Piccolo appeared in front of her.

Gohan looked at them and he couldn’t stop the tears from falling. He wiped his face to make them stop but they wouldn’t. He let out another sob. His teeth chattered against the cold air. “It’s all my fault.” 

“Can you take both of us back with you?” Videl asked and Goku nodded grabbing his son’s and Videl’s shoulder. Piccolo grabbed his but was staring at Gohan worried. Then they were back at his house. Videl ran inside before them. “I need blankets! And something warm for him to drink!” 

“Videl?!” Chichi looked up at her from where her and Goten had been watching the news. She immediately went to action. “Blankets are in the hallway! Goten help her!” He immediately went and showed her where they were. 

“How many?” Goten asked. 

“I don’t know.” Videl grabbed as many as she could carry and ran back outside where Gohan was now sitting on the ground taking deep breaths. Piccolo was kneeling next to him rubbing his back while Goku staring at him worried. “Help me wrap these around him, he needs to warm up!” Goku helped her wrap them around Gohan and the larger ones around both him and Piccolo. She touched Gohan’s forehead again. “Why is he so cold?” 

“His energy is barely there.” Goku reached up and touched his son’s forehead. It was ice. “I don’t know. What happened? We wanted to come sooner but then we saw the two of you working and didn’t want to get in the way.”

“He’s in a lot of pain right now.” Piccolo frowned, Gohan was taking deep breaths but didn’t seem to acknowledge what was happening around him. 

“A girl brought this to class.” Videl pulled the dragon ball out from her pouch in her costume. She stared at it surprised. “Except it had be deactivated or that’s what Gohan said, it was a white rock.” The dragon ball was now bright orange with three stars. 

“It shouldn’t be activated, they have to wait an entire year.” Piccolo frowned from his spot. “What happened?”

“Gohan touched it and then there was a big shockwave and the earthquake all at once.” Videl handed the ball to Goku. “We saved as many people as we could.” 

“We were watching the news, you two did a good job.” Goku patted her on the shoulder. 

“But they all died.” Gohan’s teeth chattered even with all the blankets around him. “They’re all dead and we can’t wish them back for a year. It’s all my fault, I killed them.” He sobbed, then there was sharp pain shooting through his body, he hissed through his teeth.

“Gohan?” Piccolo caught the teen as he went limp. Goku moved forward but Piccolo shook his head stopping the man. “ He’s unconscious.His energy dropped again ... its very low.” 

“What can I do?” Videl looked at the family around her. 

“Help me get him and all these blankets in the house.” They helped unwrap Gohan and Piccolo and moved him into the house. They set up a mat in the living room next to the fire place and started it. Goku changed his son’s clothes into pajamas and they wrapped him in blankets. Eventually they had him settled down, Chichi was wiping his face and the tears that didn’t seem to stop.

“We can’t keep him here.” Piccolo whispered as he, Goku and Videl sat at the dinner table. Goten was still watching the news to see if anyone reported anything about Gohan. So far it had been about the earthquake and how Saiyaman and Saiyaman II had saved a lot of lives. “If its like last time when he was unconscious there was another energy surge that destroyed Bulma’s lab.”

“What’s happening to him?” Videl asked worried.

“We don’t know yet.” Goku frowned. He looked over to the door just as Vegeta let himself in. The prince looked over at Gohan’s sleeping form before looking at the group at the table. 

“What happened?” 

“Krillin’s almost here, let’s wait to repeat it.” Piccolo stopped Videl from speaking. Vegeta nodded before moving over to where Gohan was sleeping, Chichi next to him. He was unconscious but crying ... Vegeta frowned before going over and taking a seat at the table. 

“Gohan!!” Krillin ran into the house out of breath. He looked around, his eyes landing on the teen. “Is he?”

“Alive but something is obviously happening.” Piccolo explained everything and put the now active dragon ball on the table. He looked at Vegeta. “Did you bring the dragon radar? Can you see if all of them have been activated or just his one.” Vegeta pulled it out and turned it on. He frowned. 

“There are two activated and their both here.” Vegeta showed them the screen before zooming in, “The second one is over ...” He looked at Gohan surprised. “Well what does that mean?” 

“You mean is a dragon ball?” Krillin looked over Vegeta’s shoulder. “Wait look they’re both marked as 1.” 

“Piccolo do you have any idea?” Goku asked the Namekian who had been silent. 

“No.” Piccolo stood up. “But Dende might. We need to take Gohan to him right now.” 

“He’s still freezing, let me give him a jacket.” Chichi got up but Videl stopped her. 

“I’ll get it.” She smiled before going to his room. 

“Chichi we will figure out what’s wrong.” Goku touched his wife’s shoulder. “We’ll figure out a way to fix this.” 

“Find a way to bring those people back, from today.” She looked at her husband worried. “I don’t know if he could ever move from that. Goku ...” Goku nodded and hugged his wife. They helped put Gohan in warmer clothing over his pajamas and then Goku picked him up. Vegeta, Krillin and Piccolo grabbed his shoulder and then in a few seconds they were at the Lookout. Dende and Mr.Popo were waiting for them with some blankets.

“I saw.” Dende said with a frown. They laid him on the ground and wrapped him in blankets. Dende looked at Piccolo. “Do you still have the dragon ball?” Piccolo handed it to the guardian and they were surprised when Dende handed it to Mr.Popo who left on his magic carpet. Dende gave them a worried look. “We need to keep the Earth’s dragon balls away from Gohan.”

“Do you know what is happening?” Goku stepped forward. Dende bit his lip. 

“I’m hoping I’m wrong but ... I think Gohan has become a host for a new dragon and a new set of dragon balls.” He held up his hand before they interrupted him. “It’s a technique I’ve only ever heard of but from I know has never been done. In fact I always thought of it more of a myth than anything but ... if there was ever a time where there was no Namekian to produce dragon balls and the one who created the current set was about to die. You could wish the dragon to make a host and his body would turn into energy for the dragon and create the new dragon balls who would be tied to the life of the person who wished for it.” Dende took a breath. “I don’t understand because I am not about to die nor is the Earth in any immediate danger that I’ve been aware of. So someone learned about this and made Gohan the host to create a new set of dragon balls. Their goal is most likely to take them to another planet.” 

“Why Gohan?” Vegeta asked with a frown. “Why not Kakarot or I, who’ve made enemies.”

“The chosen host would be the person with the most power to create the dragon balls as long as they weren’t the ones who made the wish. Whoever made the wish either knew Gohan or they might have just wished for the best host and with his boundless raw energy ... I don’t know.” Dende frowned looking at the ground. “I haven’t been able to find any way of fighting against this or even any written form of this ever happening before, all I know is the stories I heard as a kid on Namek.”

“We can’t wish for it to be undone because the dragon balls won’t be active for a year.” Krillin muttered. He didn’t know what to think, had this been by random chance? “Why haven’t they come to get Gohan yet? If he’s going to turn into their dragon balls then wouldn’t they want to take him?”

“I have two theories.” Dende held tightly onto his staff. “They either don’t know Gohan and made the wish without knowing how to find the host or they do know Gohan and how unstable his energy would become so they’re waiting for it to be closer ... to when he’s gone.” 

“How long do we have?” Piccolo looked at Gohan worried.

“Until his energy runs out.” Dende closed his eyes pained. “I don’t know how much time that gives us.”

“Wait but his energy is so low right now!” Krillin started by Dende shook his head. 

“No these ... fluctuations are the dragon inside of him forcing Gohan to give him energy. Since none of you are blaring full force all the time the dragon has to force Gohan to give it more energy .... at least that is what I think is happening. Gohan’s tendency to keep himself low powered is actually keeping him alive right now but at the same time it’s causing the dragon to act out and ... well you’ve seen what happens.”

“Is there nothing we can do?” Goku asked. This was his son, even he was finding it hard to believe the wishers didn’t have ill intentions. “There has to be something.” 

“I haven’t been able to find any answers but ...” Dende looked at Gohan on the ground. “I believe that if you take him to New Namek the elder might have a clue. I won’t be able to go with you but I also think it would be best to wait for Gohan to wake up again. It will be easier if we can get his energy stable to where he is feeding the dragon inside of him but only enough to keep his energy from acting out on him.” 

“Why can’t we take him now?” Goku frowned. 

“No, Dende’s right.” Piccolo crossed his arms. “If we took him to New Namek now and he had an energy outburst, he could accidently hurt more people and Gohan might just go ahead and give all his energy to the dragon inside him ... to keep others from getting hurt because of him.” 

“We can wait and then we we go we can get the Namekian dragon balls and undo what’s been done to him!” Krillin smiled. “And wish the people back from today!” 

“That’s a great idea!” Goku grinned at his best friend. 

“But I don’t know if he would be able to undo what’s been done to Gohan.” Dende frowned. “But the elder Mori would know ... I hope.” 

“Have you guys had any luck figuring out who made the wish?” Krillin looked at Goku and Vegeta. Goku looked at the prince who shook his head. 

“No, Bulma extended her search area as well but I believe that they are either hiding very well or off planet.” Vegeta frowned. “If they made this wish wanting their own set of dragon balls I don’t understand why they didn’t take Gohan immediately afterwards. If they knew what they were doing with the technology I’ve seen I would think they would have been able to make something to put Gohan in to not cause them disaster.” 

“There must have been a reason.” Goku crossed his arms, thinking. 

“How could someone do this to someone they don’t know?” Krillin clenched his fists. “And if I understood all this correctly, they’re expecting Gohan to give up his life so they can have a dragon? Why didn’t they just use the one here? Or go ask a Namekian to create dragon balls for them?” 

“There must be a reason.” Dende thought about it. “I can’t go with you to New Namek but Gohan and Piccolo must.” 

“Piccolo?” Krillin frowned. “Because they’re dating or whatever?” Then he put a hand over his mouth and looked at Goku who laughed. 

“I know.” 

“There might be a chance we can split their energy and make the dragon but I’m not comfortable trying with my own power.” Dende looked on the ground. “I wish I could be of more help.”

“You’re doing great Dende.” Goku put a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you. Well if we only need Piccolo and Gohan then I think Vegeta and Krillin should stay here.” He looked over at the other two. 

“Why?” Vegeta growled. 

“Well what if these people come for Gohan and he’s not here? We need someone here to fight them plus you might be able to figure out who they are.” Goku thought about it. “But if they’re strong can you leave one for me?”

“Not a chance.” Vegeta smirked. “If you aren’t here for a battle you don’t get to take part in it.”

“Stingy.” Goku whined. 

“I don’t think my wife would let me go to Namek anyway.” Krillin laughed. 

Dende moved over to Gohan. “I’m going to see if I can give him some energy and wake Gohan up but it might not work.” 

“Can you give him some energy from me?” Goku moved next to Gohan across from Dende. “I have a lot to spare.” He smiled and the Namekian smiled back. Dende held his hands out for Goku to take and then closed his eyes. 

Goku closed his eyes, he could feel Dende making a connection between the both of them before connecting with Gohan. His son’s energy was so low it felt like it could vanish easily, Goku hated that Gohan was in this situation. That someone had put his son in this situation without notifying Gohan or giving him a choice. He hoped they none of this was done with a mean spirit but Goku didn’t know what to do if he lost Gohan because of this. He didn’t want to lose his son. There was a small nudge against his energy and then Dende was pushing it into Gohan. Goku gasped and opened his eyes, there was a spark that sent a shock through his body, it had been quick but now he could feel Shenron’s energy ... no it wasn’t Shenron’s ... it was another dragon’s energy inside of Gohan, it was small but warm and ... hungry ... 

Goku felt his energy getting pulled toward the dragon’s energy, it hummed taking his energy for itself. Goku frowned before he felt Dende’s energy leading his own to Gohan’s instead of the dragons. Goku let out a sigh of relief when Gohan’s energy accepted it and started growing, the dragon’s energy nudged against their energies but Dende’s seemed to keep it at bay and not taking any more from either of them. Goku could feel Gohan relax as if falling into a deep sleep and then with a little more energy he could feel Gohan stir, becoming more awake. 

Dende took a deep breath and released him. Goku looked at him amazed, “I felt the dragon’s energy. It was warm and ... hungry. Like a fire.”

Piccolo looked over at him surprised.

“I’m surprised it took your energy too I would have thought it only took on the hosts but thankfully it’s still small so we were able to give your energy to Gohan.” Dende looked over to Gohan who let out a groan. “Gohan?” 

Gohan’s eyes shot open and his energy flared but settled when he saw his father and Dende. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes before trying to sit up, “What happened?” He looked around holding his head before looking at the clothes he was wearing. “I was helping clean up the city ...”

“We brought you home but you passed out.” Goku put a hand on his son’s shoulder. Gohan gave him a sad look and he knew his son felt guilty over what happened today. “It’s not your fault, you couldn’t have controlled what happened.”

“I didn’t take any of this seriously.” Gohan clenched his fists. “I thought I was fine but I wasn’t and a lot of people died because of it.”

“Don’t worry Gohan; you, your father and Piccolo are going to New Namek to wish the people back.” Krillin knelt beside Goku. Gohan looked at them surprised before looking over to Piccolo who nodded. He grinned and wiped his eyes before he started crying again. 

“Gohan.” Dende interrupted the moment. “I believe I know what is wrong with you but I want Elder Mori on New Namek to look you over himself. There’s nothing in my power I can do to fix it but he might have ideas. I wanted Piccolo to go too because there’s a chance they might be able to use him to help.”

“What’s wrong with me?” Gohan put a hand over his stomach and Dende nodded. 

“That feeling you get, from your stomach. You have the energy of a new dragon being formed inside of you and it’s going to feed off your power and your life force to make new dragon balls. It’s a method I’ve only ever heard about but I’m hoping Mori will have more answers. The reason your power keeps surging is because you haven’t been giving any to the dragon and so it sparks your energy when it finds the chance like when you’re unconscious or when you touched the dragon ball today.” Dende paused making sure Gohan was following what he was saying. 

“How do I make it stop?” Gohan asked worried. 

“Because you leave yourself in a low powered state you cut off your energy to the dragon and so its been feeding off what it can, it needs your energy before it will take your life force. You should power yourself up only a little bit and it should be able to feed off of that but I warn you never to go full power because the dragon will only consume it all faster. Once it has eaten your energy it will take your life force and you will cease to exist in place of the new dragon ... you won’t have a soul for the other world if I’m guessing correctly.” Dende grabbed his friend’s hand. “I don’t know why this happened to you but I do think Elder Mori can help. But before you go you should eat something and I’ll help you figure out how much energy to give the dragon.”

Gohan nodded looking down at his stomach.

“Okay, I’m going to go tell Chichi what is happening. We’re going to go to Namek right after we’ve eaten alright?” Goku stood up and looked at his son. “Would you like to come home too?”

“No, if its okay I’d rather stay here.” Gohan smiled up at his father who nodded. 

“Krillin? Vegeta?” Goku asked. 

“No thanks I can make my own way but you should ask the Namekians about the people who made the wish.” Vegeta scoffed before pulling out a folded piece of paper from his armor, he handed it to Piccolo before looking over at Gohan. “Good luck.” 

“Yeah I’ll come with you.” Krillin stood up next to his friend. “Seriously Gohan, worry about yourself right now. You have the rest of us to worry about everything else.” Gohan nodded as they vanished.

“Would you like to come inside?” Dende asked standing up and Gohan looked at the blankets he was covered in and nodded. 

“Sorry about the mess ... I remember feeling cold earlier.” Gohan stood up and smiled when Piccolo helped him pick them up. 

“That’s the dragons energy, you might have dreams about flames or similar too. Because it was taking your energy it wasn’t letting you have enough to warm your body. It would be best if you kept yourself warm until we can fix this.” Dende lead them into the building. Gohan looked at Piccolo at the mention of flames and he nodded back. 

“I hope they don’t mind if I show up in my pajamas.” Gohan tightened the jacket around himself and they looked up as Mr.Popo came around the corner. 

“It’s far away.” He answered Dende’s look. 

“They took the dragon ball.” Piccolo whispered over to him at Gohan’s look. 

“Mr.Popo can you make Gohan something to eat? Goku as well when he returns.” Dende smiled and as they moved to one of the covered balconies with a table. “How are you feeling Gohan? I had to give you some of mine and Goku’s energy to get you to wake up sooner, I hope that was okay.”

“Thank you.” Gohan nodded. “I feel tired honestly. It was weird, after I touched the dragon ball I was in a lot of pain and it didn’t seem like it was going to go away.”

“It’s because that dragon ball belongs to Shenron, not the dragon inside of you.” Dende sat at the table. “It probably gave you all the physical backlash.”

“While we wait for my father do you mind telling me how much energy I should be putting out?” Gohan walked over to Dende who nodded and put a hand on his stomach. 

“Power up as slowly as you can, I don’t want you to give it more than it needs.” Dende closed his eyes as Gohan slower strengthened his energy. He was thankful for the earth methods of keeping their energy down, it probably saved Gohan’s life. He waited until the dragon energy was feeding off of Gohan’s in a way that would keep it from fighting back. “That should be enough, right there.” 

“Okay.” Gohan sighed getting the feel of it. “I can work with this.”

“It might demand more the stronger it grows.” Dende looked up at Gohan. “You must not fight or power up for any reason. Once you are out of energy then your time is up.”

“How much time do you think I have?” Gohan asked before he could stop himself. Dende looked down thinking about it. 

“I would say, if you can keep a firm control on your energy ... three months.” He looked up at Gohan. “I’m sorry.”

“Thank you Dende. You’ve done a lot.” Gohan touched his friend’s shoulder trying to process it. Three months? He looked over at Piccolo who motioned him to follow. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll try my best to keep Goku entertained.” Dende answered back. 

They only went a little ways in before Piccolo pulled him into a dark room, it smelled like a library and Gohan hugged him tightly. “Piccolo.” He sighed trying to get out all of his thoughts but not knowing where to start. What if they couldn’t find the answer on Namek? What if Elder Mori had no idea what was going on? Would Porunga be able to fix this? What about the people who died today? What if he hurt people on Namek as well? He closed his eyes. 

“You’ve had a hell of a day.” Piccolo hugged him just as tightly. “When I felt your energy in the city I wanted to come right away. I should have. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry.” Gohan hiccuped. “I’m so sorry.”

Piccolo knew the apologies weren’t for him but he let Gohan get them off his chest. He kissed the teen’s temple. “You had no control over it. You saved lives today. We’re going to fix it on Namek.” 

“I hope so.” Gohan pressed his head against Piccolo’s shoulder showing his doubt. He took a deep breath making sure to maintain the energy he was supposed to. He let out a frustrated breath. “I’m so angry.” 

“Why?” Piccolo asked showing his surprise.

“Because we just got ourselves figured out.” Gohan fisted his hands into Piccolo’s tunic. “It’s unfair.”

“I said I wasn’t letting you go again and I meant it.” Piccolo pulled back to look Gohan in the eye. “I will find a way to fix all of this, put your faith in me. Have I ever failed you?”

“Never.” Gohan breathed, Piccolo wiped at the tears that fell down his cheeks. “I’m scared.” 

“I’m angry too, that this is happening to you. No training can help with something like this.” Piccolo pulled him close again. “When we find the ones responsible for this I’m going to kill them. No one can stop me.” 

Gohan was about to say something but stopped himself. He knew he would feel the same way if Piccolo was the one in danger of dying. He let himself lean against the other man, enjoying the warmth of his clothes and the body heat. 

XXX

“He’s vanished again.” Toro looked over at Akami. 

“I hate when that man teleports.” She hisses looking through the feeds she had set up. None of her spy cameras had their dragon host in their sights. “I’ll let you know when we find him again.” 

“Do you think he’s figured it out?” Aji glanced nervously at Toro. Their prince was currently resting as their ship orbited the Earth. It would not be good if this planned failed. 

“Even if it did I do not think they could reverse it.” Toro watched the screens. “There, the teleporting man is back but without our host or the man that was wearing Saiyan garb.” All of them looked at the screen as Goku and Krillin reappeared. Toro made that screen the largest on their monitor. Gohan and the other man that had left wasn’t there. 

“Do you think he was hurt when he destroyed that city?” Akami watched the screen. “For a Saiyan he seemed pretty upset about it.” 

“Don’t be fooled sister.” Aji growled. “You notice he didn’t come back with the other Saiyan. They are probably having a decent time of it.” 

Akami watched as Goku hugged Chichi who was crying before he left again. “I don’t know ...” 

“Don’t get distracted, keep looking for our host. If we can’t find him I’m sure Prince Maguro is going to want to go back to the planet. We might have to fight.” Toro commanded making them sit up straight. “Aji, do we have working enhancers?” 

“Yes sir.” Aji nodded. “They’re all charged and ready to go.”

“Good.” 

XXX


	3. Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go to New Namek to try and find a way to stop this. The aliens make a move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags will be updated as the story progresses, I think I've tagged everything so far though.
> 
> No Beta!! Sorry don't have any friends in this fandom yet haha! I tried the catch all the mistakes though.

XXX

King Kai hummed as he waxed his car, it was nice having a planet again even if he was still dead. He looked at the time, it would be a good time to take a break and eat lunch. It was a simple life he had but he enjoyed it. 

“Hey King Kai!” He turned to see Goku and beside him were Piccolo and Goku’s son Gohan. 

“Goku! How many times have I told you to call before you pop in!” King Kai threw his wrag on the ground. “You can’t use my planet like a gym! And I never said you can bring guests when you feel like it!” He put his hands on his hips. 

“It’s not like that King Kai! We’re kind of in a rush, there’s been a lot happening.” Goku laughed nervously. “I need your help sensing New Namek again. Please?” 

“You still haven’t wished me back to life yet after you killed me! Why should I do anything for you?” King Kai crossed his arms with a pout. He looked over his guests again. There was something off about Goku’s son. He couldn’t put his finger on it. 

“I promise I’ll remember next time!” Goku pleaded apologetically. “Don’t be stingy!”

“I’ll make sure to remind him.” Gohan offered, it was strange seeing King Kai in person for the first time. “Even though we’ve spoken before I believe this is the first time we’ve met in person. I’m Gohan.” 

“Your son is more polite than you.” King Kai glared at Goku before walking over to Gohan. “Well hello there, you’ve grown up. It’s nice to meet you as well.” 

“I’m sorry I don’t have a gift for our meeting but if you help us I can bring you one next time.” Gohan remained polite. 

“Help us already.” Piccolo growled. “Or do you not have the power?”

“You haven’t changed much.” King Kai sniffed, glaring at Piccolo. He looked back at Gohan. “I will help YOU.” 

“Thank you.” Gohan smiled. 

“Thank you!!” Goku ran over and touched King Kai’s shoulder. Piccolo and Gohan grabbed his. King Kai sighed before locating the new Namekian planet with his antennae. He sent the location to Goku who nodded. “Thanks King Kai, hopefully we’ll be stopping through again soon!” 

He laughed and disappeared. 

King Kai sighed. 

Some things never changed. 

XXX

Gohan blinked around when they landed on New Namek. It was brighter than he expected but he remembered they had been lucky enough to find a new planet with three suns like their old one but this one had a moon even though they had no nights. He smiled nervously over at Piccolo who placed his hand on the small of his back .

“Hey!” His father was in front of them waving at the local Namekians they had surprised with their showing up. Gohan looked around, they appeared to be right outside of one of the villages and were surrounded by the plants he remembered from the first planet. Piccolo pushes him forward to follow Goku, it was a good idea not to get separated. A lot of the Namekians were staring at Piccolo in surprise. 

“Why are they staring at you and not us?” Gohan whispered and Piccolo smirked. 

“I’m pretty good looking.” Gohan stared at him wide-eyed before laughing with a blush.

“That’s true.” He hoped his face didn’t turn too red. He looked ahead and saw an older Namekian approaching his father. 

“Goku?” The Namekian smiled. “Is that you?” 

“Elder Mori!” Goku nodded. “It’s me, do you know my son Gohan and Piccolo?” He pointed behind him and Elder Mori looked at Gohan surprised. 

“You have grown young Gohan.” Elder Mori smiled and nodded at Piccolo. “Good to see you again brother. What brings you here? I hope Dende is doing well?”

“He’s a great guardian.” Goku smiled before looking back at Gohan. “But there is something he said you might be able help us with ...”

“Do you mind if we go somewhere more private?” Gohan stepped forward with a whisper. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the Namekians gathering around but ... it was hard for him to be comfortable with so many watching. 

“Of course.” Elder Mori nodded motioning them to follow him. They followed him toward the center of the village and Gohan smiled at the Namekian children he saw playing. He saw another child point at his tail and he waved it at them causing them to smile. Piccolo watching it all with a grin. They walked into one of the larger buildings which contained a chair with a dragon ball above it. Gohan hesitated at the door and Elder Mori noticed. 

“Is there something wrong?” He asked, “Are you here for the dragon balls?”

“No ... well yes.” Gohan started. 

“It will be easier if we explain all of it.” Piccolo put a hand on Gohan’s shoulder and had them go the rest of the way in but they stayed a distance from the dragon ball. 

“I hope you don’t mind if my sons Bord and Gili are here.” He motioned at the two younger Namekians standing next to him. Gohan shook his head. “Then what can I do for you?” 

Goku scratched his head glancing back at Gohan worried. “Gohan has a dragon inside of him?”

“Let me explain.” Piccolo sighed at the shocked faces Goku got out of the other Namekians. “Some aliens we have not been able to find, came to Earth and made a wish for Gohan to become a host to create a new dragon and set of dragon balls for themselves. Dende couldn’t think of a way to cancel it out so he told us to come see you.” 

The Namekians were now looking at Gohan in shock, his tail swung behind him nervously. Elder Mori stood up from his chair and walked over. “Do you mind if I see?” Gohan looked at Piccolo worried but he nodded. Elder Mori smiled and put his hand over Gohan’s face. Gohan watched the elder Namekian’s face go from calm to worried. Elder Mori opened his eyes and looked at his sons. “Bord, please remove the dragon ball from this room, take it to Kash’s village and gather the rest of the dragon balls.” 

Elder Mori looked back at Gohan. “I’m afraid I’ve never seen this before myself. This was ... something that hasn’t happened since we cast out some of the darker members of our tribe. But now I understand your hesitance around the dragon balls ... I’m sorry for what has happened to you. I ... do not know if Porunga would be able to reverse this but we shall try.” Elder Mori said apologetically Gohan wrapped an arm around himself.

“Thank you.” Piccolo moved behind Gohan and put his hands on his shoulders. Gohan had to fight the urge to lean against him. 

“Elder Mori.” They all turned to Gili. “The aliens that made the wish, could they have been the visitors from before?” 

Elder Mori nodded before looking over to his guests. “Months ago we had visitors seeking to use our dragon balls. Their hearts were full of darkness and the desire for revenge. They did not take our denial well and we had to hide the dragon balls ... they captured and interrogated many of us, in the end they heard of the dragon balls on earth and left. They must have also learned of creating a host from one of us ... we use it as a tale of warnings and the value of life. It’s not meant to be done.” 

“Did they look like this?” Piccolo pulled out the picture Vegeta had given. Elder Mori looked at the picture and motioned Gili over who looked and nodded. 

“That was two of them.” The younger Namekian glared at the picture. “There were two more.”

“Yes.” Elder Mori agreed. “Their leader looked like them but with pink skin and there was a shorter orange one with him. They mentioned their planet had been destroyed and they were seeking to get it back and normally I would have accepted this if they had completed the tests but ... they also were seeking to harm and kill. I had been happy they did not take any of my sons with them but if this is what they did instead ...” 

“I don’t understand why they didn’t come to me or Dende.” Piccolo frowned. “If they obviously knew about the Namekian people creating the dragon balls.”

“I do not think they knew that we could create them or if they did they didn’t think they would be able to convince any Namekian to join their cause..” Elder Mori shook his head. He looked over at Goku. “I am worried about your planet now. Afraid of what they will do if they do not find Gohan there. Since he has their prize inside of him.” 

“I’ll go back and let Vegeta know.” Goku nodded before walking over to Gohan. “You stay here with Piccolo, let’s hope Porunga can stop this.”

“Be safe.” Gohan nodded. 

“Take care of him.” Goku looked at Piccolo seriously. The Namekian nodded. He smiled then and vanished in a few seconds. 

“His way of travel is most unorthodox.” Elder Mori blinked looking at where Goku had been. He looked back at Piccolo and Gohan. “It will take some time to gather all the dragon balls, they are great distances apart from when we hid them from the visitors. We hadn’t brought them back yet.”

“Thank you.” Gohan smiled before looking over at Piccolo. “Since we have time do you mind showing us around your village? We had only scene old Namek right before the destruction.” 

“I would love to.” The elder agreed. 

XXX

Piccolo watched as Gohan played with the Namekian children, much to the amusement of the adults. The kids loved his tail and would chase it and laughed when he nudged them with or brushed their heads. None of the kids had grabbed it yet and Piccolo wondered if Gohan had warned them not to or if the young Namekians had sensed not to do it. Though they climbed all over his main body. Gohan stood out even more because he was still wearing his pajamas and winter jacket compared to the lighter clothing of the Namekians. 

“He’s very good with the young.” Elder Mori sat next to Piccolo with a smile. “So strange to me that he comes from such an evil race.” 

“He’s part human not that they don’t have their flaws. He’s determined to see the best in everything.” Piccolo kept his eyes on the teen. He smirked when Gohan pretended to be held down by the children. “He’s always been gentle, he’s never wanted to be a fighter. It was something he was dragged into against his will. He is a great fighter though, when he’s defending others- the ones he loves. He’s strong.” 

“It was his power that made him the host for the dragon, I’m sure of it.” Elder Mori sighed, feeling tired even though they did not need sleep. “I could tell how pure his heart was when I looked over him. I could see how his love for you burns as well. It’s good to see you are happy my brother.”

Piccolo blushed and ducked his head. “I want to give him everything but cannot. We need to find a way to stop this before three months is up.”

“Is that the time Dende gave you?” Elder Mori waited for Piccolo to nod. “Then it is accurate. Let us hope Porunga can help.” They both watched as Gohan started showing the kids how to do cartwheels and walking around on their hands. He helped one of the smaller ones balance with his tail. Piccolo looked over at Elder Mori, “He’s going to need more than just water to eat. If we’re here for much longer, how are the planet’s resources?” 

Elder Mori smiled, “We have lots of life on this planet, in the water or on the land. He’s free to take whatever will keep him healthy.” Mori looked over at Gohan a little sadly. “I’m afraid that if Porunga can’t help him he will start feeling the strain of the dragon inside of him soon. He has amazing control of his energy, it’s because he keeps it low that he will have those few months.” 

“If Porunga can’t help, is there another way?” Piccolo tried to keep his body language light so Gohan wouldn’t notice what they were talking about. 

“I’ve already talked to the best healers and they are putting their minds on it in meditation. I will join them if the wish fails.” Elder Mori gave Piccolo a look. “I’ve never heard of it being undone before though.” 

Gohan ran over to them a little out of breath, Piccolo made a note of it, but he was smiling. “They have so much energy.” He laughed sitting down next to Piccolo with a huff. 

“How are you feeling?” Piccolo asked as Gohan pulled the jacket around himself. “Are you still cold?” 

“I’m fine, playing with the kids helped warm me up.” Gohan leaned against Piccolo’s side and the Namekian could tell he was trying to put on a strong front in front of their audience. Elder Mori gave them a sad smile causing Gohan to blush and pull away from Piccolo. The older Namekian laughed. 

“No need to hide your affair here, all of us sensed it the moment we saw the both of you together. I’m sure Earth customs are a little different but we Namekians understand the importance of love and companionship. I’ll admit most of us enjoy a singular existence though and you are the first non-Namekian relationship I’ve ever seen ... so you might get those curious but no one will interfere with your relationship.” Elder Mori smiled. “The children might ask questions if they feel brave.” 

“That’s good to know.” Gohan blushed ducking his head, his tail moving to tap Piccolo’s foot. 

“Elder Mori.” They looked up to see Gili walking over. “We have half of the dragon balls so far, I believe we will have the rest in 6 hours.” 

“Thank you Gili.” Elder Mori stood up, he stood up and turned to Piccolo and Gohan. “Please feel free to go around the village or if you would like to rest you may use that house right over there to rest.” He pointed to one that was on the outer side of the village, closer to the river. “It has beds and no one lives there. We mainly let visitors sleep there while they perform the tasks for the dragon balls ... it’s been a long time. The river also has wild life if you are hungry Gohan.” 

“I’m not hungry yet but thank you.” Gohan admitted.

“I’ll send Gili to come get you when the dragon balls are ready.” Elder Mori waved them goodbye before heading back to his house in the village. Gohan shuffled nervously before looking at Piccolo and walking over to the house they were going to borrow.

“What do you think of New Namek?” Gohan asked before smiling and waving at kids who ran by. 

“It almost feels like the old Namek.” Piccolo looked around. “It feels like ... a memory but it is not home.”

“We’ll that’s good, it would be a difficult commute for family holidays.” Gohan teased before walking into the house. Piccolo grinned walking in behind him. There were three beds that looked like they hadn’t been used in some time, some storage things, farming supplies and a fireplace that needed wood. When the door closed behind him it became dark other than a light coming in from the top of the house. Gohan went over and sat on one of the beds, Piccolo moved to stand in front of him and touched his chin to get the teen to look up at him. 

“What are you thinking?” Piccolo felt a warm sigh escape Gohan’s lips against his hand. 

“I really hope Porunga can help.” Gohan let out an uneasy chuckle staring up at Piccolo. His eyes were full of emotions, his skin was still colder than Piccolo would have expected. 

“You’re still cold.” Piccolo whispered and Gohan nodded. “Is it your energy?”

“I think so.” Gohan pressed his face against Piccolo’s warm hand. “It’s strange, I can almost feel the dragon now but mostly it feels like I have a leak in my ki and I have to be careful not to make it any bigger. The dragon’s energy almost feels like a flame ... or reminds me of it but it doesn’t make me feel warmer. The strangest thing is, since I’ve been here I feel like the dragon inside me has been a little calmer but I don’t know why ... it’s just a feeling.”

“Maybe it recognizes that Namekians are the ones who are supposed to be creating it.” Piccolo moved his hand down to Gohan’s neck making him shiver. “Not half-breed Saiyans.” 

“You feel nice.” Gohan closed his eyes with a smile. 

“I’m going to start a fire, you get comfortable.” Piccolo moved away to go outside, he found a tree a little ways away that wasn’t part of one of the farms and chopped it down, bringing it back to the house and cutting the wood in pieces with a slice of his hand. He could feel curious glances of the other Namekians but none of them came over or asked questions, Piccolo couldn’t help but wonder if word was spreading over what was happening to Gohan. It probably worried all of them. 

He came into the house and instead of getting in bed like he had expected, Gohan was curiously opening up the storage containers and looking inside. The teen looked at him sheepishly. “I was curious, it’s mainly farming supplies though and some clothes.”

Piccolo set up the fire and blasted it so it came to life quickly. Gohan moved to stand next to him and leaned against Piccolo who started pushing him towards the bed. “You should rest.”

“I’m not tired.” Gohan huffed and Piccolo gave him a look. 

“I noticed that you were breathing heavy after playing with the children. This is taking a toll on your body and we should be careful.” Piccolo grabbed Gohan’s cold hand. “So you should rest and warm up.”

“Will you warm me up?” Gohan asked before blushing. “I mean sleep with me-I mean lay with me ...”

“I’m not planning on letting you out of my sight.” Piccolo pushed Gohan back until he was next to the bed, the he pulled the top blanket off and pushed Gohan onto and put the blanket over him. “One second.” He grabbed the top blankets off the other beds and threw them over Gohan as well.

“Isn’t this a little much?” Gohan asked embarrassed.

“Tell me that when you feel warm again.” Piccolo sighed before taking off his cape and turban and climbed under the blankets, pulling Gohan against him. “Is this okay?” The house was slowly warming up from the fire and being underneath all the blankets, it felt hot to Piccolo but he could handle it. Gohan pressed his head against Piccolo’s shoulder with a smile. 

“Thank you Mr.Piccolo.”

XXX

 

Maguro frowned at his soldiers as they bowed to him. “You lost him? How long?”

“It’s been almost a full day.” Toro spoke for them. “There was a moment where he lost control of his powers, we can assume it was because he has become a host, and his friends took him somewhere but we were unable to follow.”

“Is there a chance he already transformed into the dragon balls?” Maguro asked a little worried. 

“No sir but there is a chance if he’s showing this much energy now than I would think it might be soon. I suggest we go to Earth and make his friends tell us where he is.” Toro stood up. “If he changes into our dragon and we aren’t there, they could use him.” 

“I’m ready to fight sir.” Aji stood behind Toro. “Please, I don’t want all of your work and planning to go to waste.”

“I’m sorry for my failure.” Akami stayed bowed. 

“Do you think they have figured out what is going on?” Maguro asked Toro. 

“No, even when we got the information from the Namekian it seemed like something not all of them knew about. There is no way Saiyans or Earthlings would know. Even the Namekian in their group didn’t seem to know.” Toro shook his head. “I believe that Aji has the right idea of attacking right now while we have the element of surprise. And that we take our host after we have destroyed the remaining Saiyans on the planet.”

“Very well.” Maguro looked at the humans and Saiyans they were currently watching. “I suggest we aim for him first, since he is obviously Saiyan.” He pointed at the screen of Vegeta currently training with Trunks. “He will tell us where the rest of the Saiyans are. Then we will go here.” A picture of the Son household. “This is obviously our host’s family, we will find out where he is here.”

“Very good.” They all bowed.

“I’ll prepare the ship to land.” Toro moved. 

“I’ll get our enhancers ready.” Aji ran out of the room. 

“I’ll find out where the all of the likely targets are.” Akami said with a frown. 

“Time to start phase two of our plan.” Prince Maguro glared at image of Vegeta.

XXX

Gohan stared at the flame in front of him. He was pretty sure he was dreaming even though he hadn’t meant to fall asleep. For one he was wearing his purple gi, which he knew was still on Earth. He looked back at the flame, it was waving with is yellow and orange colors but there was a hint of green around it. 

“Hi, are you the dragon energy inside of me?” He asked, the flame seemed to send warmth his way. He took it as a yes. 

“Are you aware of what is happening?” Gohan leaned forward toward the warmth.The flame flickered a few times, Gohan frowned. “Is there a way to make this stop? I mean ... for you to be created without destroying me?”

Gohan flinched as it flared, the flames growing tall and furious. He grit his teeth and closed his eyes at the overwhelming heat. He fell to his knees feeling weak. 

“Stop.” He growled. “I didn’t ask for this. I’m sorry but I’m not giving my life up so you can exist. You can’t have it.” 

The flame grew, Gohan felt like he was suffocating. 

“I know it’s not your fault either but ...” Gohan crawled toward the flame. “If this was to save my family or my friends I would give you my life willingly. But this isn’t. This was a wish by people with a grudge.” He looked up at the roaring fire. “I have too much to live for ...” 

He reached out and touched it. 

Anger.

Hunger.

Power. 

Gohan clenched his teeth to keep from screaming. He tried to grab onto the flames as it burned him, it hurt. It hurt so much. 

Pain. 

Sadness. 

Uncertainty. 

Fear.

He was being hit by emotions, Gohan gasped and opened his eyes, the flame had turned green and blue. It was sending him the emotions it had experienced inside of him. These were his emotions. Gohan gagged but kept his hold on the flame, the emotions were too raw. 

“Of course I’m scared!” Gohan yelled. “I’m dying! You’re killing me! I’m scared, I’m angry ... I’m sad. I’m not going to see my little brother grow up. I’m not going to be able to go to University. I’m not going to be able to live my life with Piccolo.” 

Love.

“I love him. I love my family. I love my friends.” Gohan wondered if he would be crying if the flame wasn’t so hot and pressing against him. “I want to live my life with them.” 

The flamed disappeared. 

Gohan gasped and opened his eyes. Piccolo was leaning over him looking worried. He looked around the room, the fire was still going but the wood was getting low, Piccolo was still with him under the blankets. 

“Are you alright?” Piccolo asked quietly and Gohan nodded, not trusting his voice. It had been so hot, so painful. That was the dragon inside him. It was unrelenting. It wanted to exist and Gohan couldn’t blame it but ... he wanted to exist too. Piccolo pressed a kiss to his forehead as if sensing his unease. 

“Are you too hot?” Piccolo asked and Gohan shook his head. He wasn’t hot but he wasn’t cold anymore either. It was perfect. 

Gohan reached up and pulled the larger man down for a kiss on the lips. He had meant it to be a quick chaste kiss but found he couldn’t help himself. He kissed Piccolo again. They were running out of time. He wrapped his arms around his neck, still in the winter jacket underneath all these blankets. Piccolo followed his lead without hesitation. What if they only had three months left together. Gohan fought back the tears forming in his eyes. 

He didn’t want to die. 

“It’s only been a short time.” Piccolo whispered against his lips. “We still have a few hours before the dragon balls are ready.” 

“I think I talked to the dragon ...” Gohan looked up at Piccolo who looked at him surprised. “It didn’t talk back but ... I don’t think it’s planning on going away without a fight.”

“That doesn’t mean we won’t fight back.” Piccolo growled and Gohan wiped a hand at his eyes to stop the tears. “Gohan, we will figure it out.”

“I know.” He shook his head and smiled up at Piccolo. “I love you.” He wanted to make sure Piccolo knew it. He was going to have to say it over and over again. Piccolo kissed him and pressed down against him. Gohan groaned sliding his hands down Piccolo’s back and grabbing his ass. They moved slowly against each other, nothing rushed or frantic. Kissing when they’re mouths were close to each other. Kissing shoulders, necks, hands ... anything else that might in place. 

Gohan glanced up and moved one of his hands to reach up and gently caress one of Piccolo’s antennae. The Namekian jolted, thrusting against Gohan with a gasp. The bit his lip and did it again getting a similar reaction. “I’m sad I didn’t do this sooner.” He kissed Piccolo’s neck while keeping his fingers gently touching the antennae. Piccolo growled, grinding his hips against Gohan one more time before he grabbed Gohan’s hips and rolled them so Gohan was on top of him, straddling his body with his legs on either side of him. Gohan looked down surprised, watching as Piccolo pulled down his pajama bottoms down as much as he could. Gohan bit his lip as Piccolo scooted down and took his erection in his mouth. 

“Piccolo!” Gohan moaned before putting a hand over his mouth and putting the other on Piccolo’s shoulder to give himself something to lean on. Gohan gasped feeling the warmth of Piccolo’s mouth as the Namekian sucked. Gohan thought he was going to go insane from the amount of pleasure he got from Piccolo. He was going to go insane and it didn’t bother him one bit. He wanted more even. More of Piccolo, to give Piccolo more. Gohan moved his hand from cover his mouth to sucking on two of his own digits and covering them with spit. He didn’t know if this was the best idea, wished he had something else to use but he wanted Piccolo. 

He waited until his hand felt kind of wet and slimy from his own spit before pulling his hand out and moving it behind him. He was thankful for Piccolo’s hands on his hips keeping him steady and that his pants were already pulled down enough. His tail was trapped in his pants but he ignored it and found his entrance and slid one finger in. He had done this a few times before but always alone in his bed after everyone was asleep. Gohan bit his lip, sliding another finger in and thrusting in and out slowly. Piccolo was still licking and sucking at his erection, he shuddered and squeezed Piccolo’s shoulder with his free hand, he was so close. 

“Come on Gohan.” Piccolo pulled back, pumping Gohan’s cock with his hands. Gohan hissed through his teeth as he came into Piccolo’s hand. He slumped forward slightly but kept thrusting his fingers inside himself. He panted staring down at Piccolo who looked up at him before noticing the movement of Gohan’s arm, his eyes trailed down to where it disappeared behind the teen. Piccolo growled, his eyes going dark. 

“Piccolo ... I want you to ...” Gohan blushed, “that is ... if you would be interested in ... fucking me.” 

“Gohan.” Piccolo growled his name. He stayed in the spot he was in and moved his hands behind Gohan, one of them still with cum in it and Gohan shuddered as he felt another wet finger poking at his entrance before sliding in, slick with what Gohan guess was his own come. He rocked back on the fingers inside of him, stretching him. Gohan panted as they worked their way inside of him, he started wondering if he might be ready before another one of Piccolo’s fingers was pressing in, Gohan trembled in anticipation as it made its way in, now he had four fingers inside of him and two of them were Piccolo’s. He felt his cock jump again, stirring for another round. 

Piccolo chuckled before squeezing Gohan’s hip with his other hand. “Remove your fingers.” He asked and Gohan slowly slid them out and then Piccolo removed his and he felt empty and couldn’t stop the whine that came out. He wanted this. He wanted it so bad. Piccolo was moving under him and Gohan realized the man was adjusting his own clothes to free his erection, there was noise and Gohan shuddered, wondering what Piccolo could be using as lube, his spit like Gohan had? Then Piccolo was sitting up so Gohan was in his lap again, he grabbed the back of Gohan’s neck and pulled him into a kiss. 

“Are you ready?” Piccolo asked pulling away and Gohan nodded, holding onto his shoulders. He gave Piccolo a nervous smile. 

“I really want this.” He breathed and Piccolo kissed his neck before helping Gohan into position. Gohan leaned back following the nudges of Piccolo’s hands before he felt Piccolo’s erection pressing into him. He groaned, taking his time to let it fill him up. Piccolo’s hands were gripping his hips hard but not pressing him down or up, letting Gohan go at his own pace. Gohan bit his lip and took deep breaths trying to stay relaxed. This wasn’t what he expected it to feel like, Piccolo between his legs, hot and trembling. The only noise was their own panting breaths and occasional grunts. The fire was almost out now, Gohan saw it in the side of his vision. The house was warm and they were still under the blankets and in their clothing. He felt sweat drip down his chin, he trembled taking Piccolo the rest of the way in until he was fully seated on the Namekian’s lap. 

“Piccolo.” He whispered not knowing what to ask for but wanting something. Piccolo seemed to know what he meant though, pulling him into a gentle kiss and moving a hand from Gohan’s him to his cock, gently stroking it. Gohan groaned and rocked his hips against Piccolo’s causing the other man to let out a moan. It felt ... different. He felt full, Piccolo was inside of him. He grabbed Piccolo’s face with his hands and pulled him into another kiss, this one biting and consuming. He gasped for air before locking their lips again and starting a pace with his hips, he moved his legs to make it easier for him to move. Gohan cried out as a spot was hit deep inside of him that sent a wave of pleasure thru him, he rocked down again and it was hit again. Piccolo groaned and thrust up his hips causing Gohan to cry out again seeing stars. He put a hand over his mouth remembering that they were in a Namekian village and that the other’s could probably hear his shouts. 

Their pace became rough and desperate. Gohan clenched his free hand on Piccolo’s gi trying to keep his rhythm going while Piccolo thrust up to meet up, one hand tight on Gohan’s hips and the other sliding under his shirt to touch his skin. Gohan panted against his hand, his cock hard and stuck between the both of them. He needed to ... he needed ... 

Piccolo’s hand touched the base of his tail where it connected to his body and Gohan bit his hand to keep from yelling as he whited out in pleasure. His whole body trembled as he came between them, he felt Piccolo still thrusting into him and he tried to keep up his pace but soon Piccolo pulled Gohan down and thrust up one more time letting out a groan as he came inside. 

Gohan shivered at the sensation of being filled, he could feel Piccolo’s cock throbbing inside of him releasing his load. Then Piccolo was relaxing and they both fell back onto the bed. Gohan let out an elated laugh moving so Piccolo could pull out and they moved so they were laying next to each, other. Gohan adjusted his pants so his tail was no longer trapped in them and then he reached for Piccolo giving him a gentle kiss. Piccolo pulled him close and kissed his forehead. 

“That was ...” Piccolo shivered as Gohan found a way to move his hands under his shirt. 

“Yeah.” Gohan grinned wrapping his arms around Piccolo. He sighed taking in a deep breath. He groaned and tried to burry his head into Piccolo’s chest. “But ...”

“What?” Piccolo ran a hand through Gohan’s hair. 

“We need to take a bath.” Gohan whined. “We smell.” 

“Too much for your delicate Saiyan nose?” Piccolo teased, his hands trailed down Gohan’s back and found his tail. “I do have to say your reaction earlier was very interesting.” He gently pressed his back where the tail connected. 

Gohan shivered. “I don’t know if I can go again but if you keep doing that we’ll find out.” Piccolo moved his hand to gently rub his back. “That’s nice too.”

XXX

Vegeta looked over as Goku appeared in front of the house. Trunks sat on the ground and panted for breath from their training. “What did you find out Kakarot?” 

“The people in this picture went to Namek first trying to use the dragon balls. They got turned away and came here instead.” Goku crossed his arms. “They’re gathering the dragon balls now to see if they can fix Gohan but I had a bad feeling ...”

Vegeta narrowed his eyes, if Goku had a bad feeling then it was better to trust the base instinct but that didn’t mean he needed to follow through. This whole situation was a bad feeling but he could understand, he couldn’t help but feel that these people were involved with the Saiyans. 

“They said there were two more of them and that they were pretty bad dudes.” Goku kept going. “They’re looking for revenge.”

“So your son is being used as a tool for that.” Vegeta scoffed. “Disgusting.” 

“Is Gohan going to be okay?” Trunks dusted himself off the ground. 

“We’re working on it.” Goku scratched his head. “I really hope so, if anyone can figure it out it’s the Namekians” 

Vegeta opened his mouth to respond but suddenly sensed something to the left. He turned in time to knock the blast away. 

“Dad!” 

“Vegeta!” 

Trunks and Kakarot both ran over and got into fighting stances next to him. Vegeta glared at the red alien across from them. It was one of the ones that had come to the house before. “Look Kakarot, they made it easy for us and came here.” He smirked. 

“Shut up Saiyan scum.” Aji clenched his fists glaring at Vegeta. “That was a warning shot. We demand you tell us where all the Saiyans are on this planet. Today is the last day of your lives.” 

“Why did you make that wish on my son?” Goku stepped forward with a glare. “He’s done nothing to you and now he might die!” 

“What is your issue with us?” Vegeta crossed his arms. “You’re looking for the Saiyans? Here we are.” He motioned between Goku and himself. “You found us.” 

“Don’t lie to me, I know your race.” Aji crossed his arms.

“He’s not lying, we’re the only two full blooded Saiyans left in the whole universe.” Goku frowned still ready for a fight. “We have our families but you will leave them out of this.” 

“What are you talking about? You expect me that you two are the only two left of the whole Saiyan race? They had a whole planet!” Aji glanced to the side and Goku turned in time to catch Akami’s hand before she placed a metal cube on him. She looked at him surprised before backing away. Vegeta had caught Toro before he placed a metal cube on Trunks.

“Trunks go inside.” Vegeta growled. “Go find your mother.” 

“But-”

“Inside.” Vegeta growled and Trunks ran inside but not until after he glared at the intruders. Toro jumped to stand next to Aji. 

“There’s one more.” Goku mumbled to Vegeta who nodded. 

Aji smiled and got into a fighting stance with Toro and Akami. “Doesn’t matter after we kill you we’ll kill your son and then we’ll get the other boy. Then we’ll take the one named Gohan who will become our dragon for our new planet and then we’ll find the rest of the Saiyans.”

“Your first mistake was making that wish against Kakarot’s son. Your second, is underestimating us.” Vegeta got into his battle pose. “Don’t worry I’ll keep counting until you’re dead. Feel free to ask for the number any time during the fight.” 

XXX

Piccolo looked up before someone knocked on the door. Gohan got up to answer it, they had thankfully gone and taken baths and now were in new clothes. Piccolo had given Gohan better winter wear than just his pajamas and a jacket. He smiled at Gili who was at the door. 

“We have the dragon balls.” The Namekian smiled. “Please follow me.” They followed him back to Elder Mori’s house where all the balls were sitting in a circle. Gohan stopped when he saw them but Gili shook his head. “It should be fine for you to get a little closer but stop when you feel you’re at the best distance.” 

“Okay.” Gohan went until he was about 20 feet away and stopped looking at Piccolo who put his hand on his shoulder. “This ... should be fine.” Gohan looked around and realized it was only them, Gilid, Elder Mori and Bord. “Where did everyone else go?”

“I’ve sent them to another village nearby just in case anything sets off your power.” Elder Mori nodded. “I felt it was best to be prepared. Are you ready?”

“That was a good idea ... and yeah.” Gohan took a breath and closed his eyes as Elder Mori spoke in Namekian to summon Porunga. Gohan grabbed his stomach as he felt the flame inside of him flare up but it wasn’t causing any pain. He felt Piccolo next to him and looked up at the large dragon now above them. Porunga was terrifying and awesome. 

Elder Mori started speaking with the dragon and Gohan held his breath. “He’s asking if there’s a way to reverse what’s been done to you.” Piccolo whispered in his ear and Gohan nodded, his chest feeling tight. 

The dragon spoke. 

Piccolo’s hand tightened on his shoulder and Gohan looked at him worried. Piccolo shook his head and Gohan felt the world drop below his feet. The dragon couldn’t undo it. Then what chance did they have of trying anything else. He only had three months left ... three months with his family ... three months with Piccolo ... He ducked his head and tried to keep himself together until he could have a moment alone. 

Piccolo turned to Elder Mori. “Ask him if there’s a way where we can make it so Gohan doesn’t die.” 

Elder Mori nodded before speaking again to Porunga. This time the dragon paused before speaking. Gohan waiting for Piccolo to give him a translation but instead Piccolo let go of his shoulder and moved to stand next to Elder Mori and spoke up but he was speaking in Namekian. 

Gohan decided he was going to learn the language.

He didn’t like the look of surprise that Elder Mori and his sons were giving Piccolo. “What’s happening?” He asked the closest son Bord who jumped as if he had forgotten Gohan was there. “I don’t understand what their saying.” Gohan admitted frustrated. 

“The dragon says there are two ways you can survive. One is if you convince the dragon inside you to stop and leave your body before it can form.” Bord swallowed. “Or if you bonded with someone and shared your energy together but there was a chance the dragon would drain you both and you would both die or you could die during the bonding ceremony.” 

Gohan looked over at Piccolo worried. “What’s Piccolo saying?”

“He asked if there’s a way to replace you ... there is not.” Bord paused. “Porunga is getting impatient because no one is making wishes. 

Piccolo spoke up again, this time angrily at Porunga and Elder Mori was trying to get him to stop. 

“He ... demanded the dragon to make it so both of you would definitely survive bonding.” Bord smiled. “That is good, Porunga will grant that.” The dragon’s eyes glowed and Gohan looked over to Piccolo who was watching him, he felt a wave of something gentle ... like water wash over him. He gasped and closed his eyes. It reminded him of being home with his family or camping with Krillin, getting all his homework done ... kissing Piccolo ... it was all of his favorite things and then it was gone. He stumbled but Bord caught him before he lost his footing. 

Porunga growled at them. 

“What were your other two wishes?” Elder Mori asked nervously. 

“Can he bring back everyone that died become of me today on Earth.” Gohan shook, still trying to overcome Porunga’s power that had overcome him. He looked over at Piccolo, he was shaking as well. He looked up as Porunga’s eyes glowed and smiled. That meant the wish was granted, he sighed with relief. 

“Do you have a third wish?” Elder Mori asked with a smile and Gohan shook his head. 

“Actually ...” Piccolo paused and then spoke to the dragon who granted his wish. Gohan looked over at him confused but Piccolo smirked. “Now King Kai owes me one.” Gohan realized Piccolo had wished the Kai back to life and smiled. 

“Are you okay?” Piccolo touched Gohan’s shoulder gently. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask you beforehand.” 

“I trust you.” Gohan looked up at the Namekian. “But will this bonding thing really work? Can you tell me what it is?”

“I don’t actually know.” Piccolo admitted before looking at the other three Namekians who looked at him surprised. 

“You don’t know what it is?” Elder Mori whispered. “And you signed the both of you up for it.”

“It should be fine, they’ll both survive.” Bord smiled. “Porunga made it so.” 

“There are other things than their lives at risk.” Gili hissed but Elder Mori stopped them from continuing. 

“Both of you, go to the healers and get them to set up for the ritual.” Elder Mori motioned for Piccolo and Gohan to follow him. “I will explain to you what is going to happen.” 

“You’re going to teach me Namekian.” Gohan huffed at Piccolo who nodded. 

“Fair enough.” 

“Did you feel ... the same thing? Earlier when Porunga granted your wish.” Gohan asked softly looking at his hands. “It felt like water rushing over me, it was so calm.”

“Yeah.” Piccolo nodded. “It was an interesting sensation, nothing like the energy inside of you feels.” 

“Every dragon is different, even Shenron on Earth feels different I am sure.” Elder Mori went into his house and sat on his chair. He motioned for them to sit on the pillows in front of him. “Now I will explain to you about bonding ... it’s a way of connecting two together without the full merge that you have done with Nail or Kami. And unlike the Fusion technique Goku knows.” Elder Mori thought about it. “It’s very intimate and can take a while depending on how compatible the ones doing it are. It’s not something to take lightly and it’s permanent, there is no undoing it. Usually there’s a series of tasks before hand but your circumstances are different and you do not need my approval.” 

“So is it like a marriage?” Gohan asked with a blush, Elder Mori thought about it and nodded. “I guess it would be similar to your Earth custom ... but instead of rings- you bond your minds, spirits, and souls together. There is not one part of you that your partner will not know and vice versa. The bonding ceremony is hard because it takes away privacy, all your secrets are in the open, regrets and past memories but also current thoughts and feelings. If you doubt your partner they will know. If you hate or love something they will know. And if either one of you dies so will the other.” Elder Mori sighed. “The bonding ceremony is done between Namekians who want to share the rest of their lives together and raise families but it’s not needed to do so. It’s usually the young who want it.” He smiles a little at that. “I’ve never seen another race do our ceremony let alone a Namekian with someone else.” He turned to Gohan. “Our race communicates a lot telepathically. Every child we have is linked to the parent and so forth.”

“Piccolo and I have linked before.” Gohan nodded. “We still do sometimes.”

“This will never turn off, it might start sounding like a whisper if you’re far apart but it will never fade. It will also make it hard to be separated at first ... and a reason many decide not to do this is it strains the mind which is why I’m worried about you Gohan. You’re not Namekian, you’ve held temporary links but a bond is hard enough of a Namekian who is built for it ... if your mind can’t handle the strain there’s a chance you can go insane.” He looked between the both of them. “If you bond and either of you can’t take it ... then it won’t be long for the other to follow. I’ve seen one bond end this way and they both died after a week. You might survive the bonding but ...” 

“We’re still doing this.” Piccolo looked at Gohan who looked at him surprised. “If we bond successfully then there’s a chance you can survive.” 

 

“How would bonding help?” Gohan looked to Elder Mori. 

“You will be sharing energy. There is a chance ... a small chance.” He looked at Piccolo. “Somehow you could convince the dragon inside Gohan to talk half of your energy and half of his. But the dragon could disagree and take all of both or still choose just Gohan’s and Piccolo will die when you do.” 

Gohan swallowed before looking at Piccolo. “Can you give us a moment?” 

“Of course.” Elder Mori left the room and shut the door behind him. 

“Gohan-” Piccolo stopped when Gohan raised his hand. 

“You can’t do this.” Gohan shook his head frantically. “I won’t let you. We’re not doing this.”

“We have to.” Piccolo glared. “If we don’t you’ll die.”

“I don’t want you to die too!” Gohan argued back. “If we don’t do this then ... I’m the only one who is going to die. If we do it then there’s probably a 90% chance we’ll both die.”

“You can’t give up.” Piccolo grabbed Gohan’s shoulders. “Gohan, reverse our roles here. Would you let me die by myself or would you want me to take the chance and live?”

“That’s not fair.” Gohan shook his head. “I don’t want you to die because of me.”

“None of this is your fault.” Piccolo put both of his hands on Gohan’s cheeks making him make eye contact. “Gohan, I would rather die with you than to let you die alone because of someone else’s scheme.” 

“But-” Gohan felt tears form in his eyes and then warmly fall down his cheeks. 

“Do you want to die?” Piccolo growled and Gohan sobbed. 

“I don’t want to die.” He cried. “I want both of us to live.” Piccolo wrapped him in a hug. “But I want you to live more.”

“I asked Porunga to make sure both of us would survive this bonding.” Piccolo whispered. “I know you’ll be able to take the mental connection. The real battle will be making the dragon accept my energy with yours instead of taking your life force.” 

“I don’t like this.” Gohan sniffed before looking at Piccolo. “What if we both end up dying?”

“We won’t.” Piccolo grabbed Gohan’s hands. “We won’t die.”

“Being bonded with you is going to be so terrible.” Gohan joked. “You probably think about very distracting things.”

“Says the person with very interesting dreams.” Piccolo smirked and Gohan laughed.

“You like my dreams.” Gohan put his palms against Piccolo’s to compare their hands, Piccolo’s were larger. He sighed. “After we both live through this.” He looked up at the Namekian. “You should move in with my family.” 

“ ... “ Piccolo blinked at him. Gohan ducked his head with a blush. “What if ... we got our own home?” 

Gohan looked at him in surprised. “Really?”

“With your family’s permission.” Piccolo smirked. “But that means we are both going to survive.” 

“Alright.” Gohan blinked wiping at his face. “Let’s do this.” 

XXX

Goku struggled against the metal wrapping around his body. Though it wrapped around him like liquid it wouldn’t budge when he fought against it, even as a Super Saiyan. He looked over to where Vegeta was motionless on the ground ... how had this happened? 

How-

“Go inside and get the boy.” The orange alien, Toro if Goku had heard right, ordered the red one name Aji. “If he puts up a fight then kill him.” 

“No-” Goku fell to the ground, the metal restraints were were draining their energy. “Leave them alone, they have nothing to do with this.”

“As long as there are Saiyans, the universe will never be at peace.” Toro stood in front of me. He looked over at the other red one. “Akami, take these two to the ship and find out where the host is. I’ll head to the other house.”

Toro vanished and Goku looked at the girl alien. “Please ... not the kids.” He growled out to the ground before he heard an explosion and everything went black.

XXX

“Once we start the ceremony we cannot stop until it’s finished.” Elder Mori walked around the circle of Namekians that were sitting around Piccolo and Gohan who were sitting cross legged back to back. “How long it takes depends on your connection but in the past it’s been between a few hours and a couple of days.”

“I wonder if we should have tried to contact my father before we did this.” Gohan whispered, worried. 

“Don’t worry, he can handle whatever is happening on Earth. We’re going to handle making sure you live.” Piccolo whispered back. 

Elder Mori coughed and they both sat up straight. “To start you must only be thinking of each other. Only let the other be in your mind. It will move on from there. Are you ready?”

“Yes.” Gohan and Piccolo said at the same time. 

“Close your eyes and relax.” Elder Mori sat at the only empty pillow in circle around them. 

Gohan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then another. He thought of Piccolo, his feelings toward him. He smiled and thought of his warmth. He found himself thinking of today ... talking to Parunga and Gohan had felt annoyed that Piccolo had spoken for him but at the same time he trusted the Namekian with his life and that was exactly what he was doing now. He thoughts moved to when they were having sex and how wondering it had been, Gohan hoped they would be able to do it again. The feeling of connection had overwhelming and Gohan wondered if that’s what being bonded would feel like. They were back on earth and Piccolo was watching the news of what happened in Satan City ... he had wanted to go into town to help Gohan and Videl but Chichi had stopped them when Saiyaman and Saiyaman II came on the screen. He felt frustrated ... he wanted to help to be there for ... Sharing a bed with Gohan wasn’t what he expected, it was nice. Warm. He was worried about Gohan, what was going to happen to him-

-Gohan watched Piccolo protect Bulma in the lab - Piccolo felt Gohan getting struck by the lightning sent from the dragon. It was feeding them their own and each other’s memories and working backwards. When they were at the cave together after training, Gohan hanging out with his family, playing with Goten - Piccolo meditating or speaking with Dende to make sure the young Namekian isn’t lonely, a leftover emotion from Nail if he was to guess. Gohan hanging out with Videl and people from school. Piccolo training. The reactions to seeing each other with halos synced in a way it made them dizzy, damn Buu, damn them for being too weak to stop him. 

It kept going from the time they fell apart, Goten’s birth ... Goku’s death. Gohan never realized how angry Piccolo had been at his father in that moment with Cell. Piccolo held his breath at the agony Gohan felt during that battle, seeing his friends hurt because of his own weakness and lack of faith in himself. They were fighting the androids, they were on old Namek against Freeza. Fighting the Saiyans ... Piccolo’s death protecting Gohan. How Gohan had hated his weakness at the age of 5, how Piccolo had never been more sure of a decision than protecting his first friend. Kidnapping Gohan to train him to fight, putting his plans for world domination on hold. Gohan spending time with his mother and father and growing up. Piccolo fighting Goku at the World Tournament to get revenge for his father, aging himself faster so that he could fight him with enough strength ... being born filled with nothing but hatred and revenge on the mind. 

Then it repeated this time from the beginning, getting the emotions in order. Finding it hard to tell when they were watching a memory or reliving their own. Piccolo finding out he wasn’t a demon but an alien from space. Gohan learning that he could turn into a giant monkey if the moon hadn’t been destroyed. Not wanting to fight but not wanting to disappoint his father or his friends. Wanting to fight but not being strong enough to kill the man that killed his father. He had to keep up with everyone, stay strong but also get his homework done so mother would be happy. Why wouldn’t Kami merge with him again, was being a part of him that terrible that even the guardian would rather see the world end. Why did he have to become a Super Saiyan, weren’t Vegeta and his father enough? He didn’t need anyone or anybody, he was better off alone. How many more of his friends or family were going to die in front of him before he got a clue.

Their first kiss. 

No longer alone. 

No longer afraid. 

Worried about what others will think. 

Worried about who has the shorter life span. 

Finally together. 

They both take a deep breath. 

And opened their eyes. 

XXX

Goku opened his eyes slowly, coming to. He was still wrapped with the strange metal restraint. He seemed to be in some sort of cage. Vegeta wasn’t there and that worried him. Trunks was passed out in a corner wrapped in the same type of restraint. Goku closed his eyes, they were still on Earth. 

“You’re awake.” Goku opened his eyes again and the woman was standing on the other side of the bars. 

“Where is Vegeta?” He growled. 

“He’s having a conversation with my Prince.” She gave him a curious look. “Are you two really the last of the Saiyans?” 

“Yes.” Goku scowled. “They were destroyed by Freeza around when I was born.” 

“They?” She raised an eyebrow. 

“I consider myself an earthling.” Goku let out a rough laugh. “I was born on that planet but sent to Earth as an infant and I grew up there. I didn’t know anything about the Saiyans until ... I don’t know ... 15 years ago? And other than Vegeta ... lets just say I don’t get along with my kind.”

“Where’s our host?” She frowned at him. 

“What?” Goku shifted feeling the restraints. He didn’t have that much strength but maybe if he went Super Saiyan 3 he would be able to get Trunks out of here. 

“Our host, the boy who’s going to turn into our dragon balls. Where is he?” Amika crossed her arms. “I don’t believe your sob story. Saiyans came and destroyed my planet, they didn’t even sell it. They destroyed it. All of our people are gone and it’s the Saiyan’s faults, we’re not going to stop until they are dead.”

“Then settle this with just Vegeta and I. Leave the kids out of this.” Goku growled. “They’re just children.”

“Saiyan children.” She murmured. But Goku say something in her eyes, she was hesitant to hurt the kids, that was good. 

“You said the Saiyans destroyed your planet but the Saiyans are already dead from a long time ago ...” Goku looked up to her from his spot on the ground. 

“My planet was destroyed ... we’re the only survivors because we were off planet at the time but the blast hit us and our ship was horribly damaged and we crashed on a large comet, by the time we were able to fix our ship we were so far from our own universe ...” Akami clenched her fists at the memory. “Through our travels we heard rumors of the Namekians and the dragon balls and when we found them they wouldn’t help us.”

“Because your hearts were full of hate and the desire for revenge.” Goku coughed against the floor. 

“Of course they are!” She hissed. “And now we won’t be able to see our plans through! If the Saiyans are really destroyed ... the planet is already gone. What can we do now?”

“Well, Earth is pretty nice.” Goku smiled. “You could always stay here?”

Akami gasped looking at the Saiyan in shock. She shook her head. “Tell us where the host is!”

“He’s my son you know.” Goku looked at her. “He just wanted a peaceful life and you are taking it away from him.” 

“There’s no such thing as a Saiyan that wants peace.” Akami hit the bars of the cage. Trunks woke up with the noise before looking around, he looked at Goku on the floor and then the alien outside the cage. 

“You! Where’s my father? What are you doing to us? My mother better still be alive!” Trunks fought against the restraints. 

“Are you saying there’s no way you and your friends are going to let us go?” Goku concentrated on his energy. 

“If you don’t give us the host you’re going to be lucky if we don’t destroy this planet instead.” Akami glared. 

“Fine, you want a fight.” Goku started powering up. “A fight is what you’re going to get.” He concentrated on his energy, he needed to get straight to Super Saiyan 3 to break the bonds. 

“What are you doing? Didn’t you realize how useless this is from earlier? You’re just giving us more energy and you’re going to die.” Akami took a step back from the cage. 

“I was just testing things out.” Goku grinned before blasting through the stages and getting into Super Saiyan 3, it was too much for his bonds and they shattered, he grabbed Trunks and broke his restraints as well. He concentrated on Vegeta’s power ... he was close ... and teleported there.

“Dad!” Trunks cried out. 

Vegeta was hanging in the middle of the room, still tied in his restraints but unconscious and bloodier than before. In the corner of the room was a large pink alien, he was cleaning off a bloodied knife. 

Goku sent a blast his way before grabbing Vegeta and breaking his restraints. He caught the Saiyan prince as he fell, he teleported the three of them out of there. Goku landed in front of his house and let Trunks go to his father. The door flew off its hinges. 

The orange alien from before looked at Goku surprised, Goten was restrained and passed out in his arms. 

“Let go of my son.” Goku growled. 

Toro grinned. “Make me.”

XXX

Gohan looked at the flame in front of him and then looked over at Piccolo beside him. “Is ... this part of the bonding?”

“I don’t know.” Piccolo looked at the large greenish flame. It was just them and the flame, nothing else existed. “Is that the dragon inside of you? It’s just a flame?”

The flame flared and flickered menacingly. 

“Yeah.” Gohan nodded. “Hey ... I’m back. This is Piccolo, he’s a Namekian.”

The flame exploded around them and Gohan flinched back moving to stand in front of Piccolo but the flame didn’t burn ... it explored. It seemed different from before ... it focused on Piccolo, he could tell. He turned around to see Piccolo had his eyes closed as the flame went around him. 

“It’s never done this before.” Gohan whispered. 

“I think it understands that what it’s doing to you is unnatural.” Piccolo opened his eyes and grabbed Gohan’s hand. “Or it does now. Dragon ... I am bonding with this half-breed and I do not want him to die. I ask of you to take as much of both of our energies you need to form but leave both of our life forces alone.” 

The flame flared angrily and swirled around them. Gohan flinched as it heated up. He moved to try and block Piccolo from the brunt of it. “Stop this.” Gohan growled, his tail lashing out. “Don’t hurt Piccolo.”

“It’s alright Gohan, it doesn’t hurt.” Piccolo put a hand on the teen’s shoulder. “Does it hurt you?”

“A lot.” Gohan didn’t bother hiding it. The warmer the flame got the more it felt like it was searing his skin. It moved away from them and flared like it had before it surrounded them. Piccolo frowned, if Gohan was in pain there had to be a reason. 

Piccolo looked at the flame. “Is this the only form you’ve seen it in?” 

“Yeah.” Gohan sighed. “I thought it was interesting but I wonder if I haven’t given it enough energy. It’s still pretty easy to understand though, it wants to live.” Gohan smiled at Piccolo sadly. “I can’t blame it.” 

“Dragon.” Piccolo tried again. “Will you agree to our terms? If you spare our life force and only take our energy then we will give you all you need ... if not we will keep on finding ways to stop you from existing.” 

The flame flared angrily and Gohan hissed at the pain but kept his position. He couldn’t blame the dragon for wanting to live. He stepped closer ignoring Piccolo’s warning. “I know you want to exist. I want to live too.” Gohan reached out to the flame and it settled around him, he ignored the burning feeling in his palm. “But I don’t want you to hurt anyone I care about and I don’t want to hurt anyone either. But I also don’t want to die ... “ 

Gohan watched surprised as the flame traveled up his arm before covering his body. He saw Piccolo step over closely. “What are you doing?”

“I have no idea.” Gohan laughed with a wince. “It doesn’t hurt as much as last time though. It’s weird ... why is this happening now? What happened to our bonding? Are you ... inside me too?”

“Yeah, my consciousness is right now. Our bonding must have triggered this, the dragon was curious and pulled us into here.” Piccolo reached and touched Gohan’s arm, the flame didn’t go after him. 

“I hope this doesn’t mess it up ... it was ...” He didn’t know how to explain it but winced when he felt pain in his stomach. He gasped he could feel the dragon pulling away but this time it was forcibly pulling out his energy, he clenched his teeth and Piccolo caught him before his knees gave out. “It’s forcing my energy out.” 

“I didn’t know it could do that.” Piccolo tried to think of something. “Let’s see if it will take mine too.” He sent his energy to Gohan and the dragon latched on pulling it. It was ... intense. His legs buckled and both of them felt to their knees. He couldn’t imagine Gohan having this happening to him for the past few days or was it weeks now? The dragon pulled both of their energies and Piccolo watched in awe as the flame pulled away from them and slowly turned into light before growing and surrounding them. The dragon was huge. It looked just like Shenron but with blues, reds and green colors. Gohan curled over in pain grabbing his stomach and Piccolo pulled him close while staring up at the dragon. 

“I am Muling.” The dragon’s voice shook Piccolo to his core. “This will make it easier to speak.”

“Are you going to take both of our energies?” Piccolo looked down at Gohan who still looked like he was in a lot of pain. “Why do you hurt him?”

“He rejects me.” The dragon growled. “He will not give me the energy I need.” 

“He wants to live.” Piccolo argued. “He didn’t ask for this.”

“I do not care. I will be formed.” Muling moved so he was circling around them. Piccolo didn’t understand how something so large could be inside of Gohan right now. 

“I want him to live. Please, if you take all of our energy then it should be enough for you to still be created.” Piccolo pleaded. 

“I still need a life energy.” Muling disagreed. “I want one. Stop fighting me.”

“No.” Gohan shut his energy down and gasped as the pain stopped. “I’m not ready to die yet.”

“I have seen your heart and your soul ... you are pure and good.” Muling growled impatiently, “I will agree to let you live out the rest of your time and take your energy slowly. I have pulled you both in here to cancel the bonding by the Namekians.”

“What?” Piccolo stood up. “Why?”

“I only need one life energy.” The dragon growled. “Live out the remainder of your time together. I will take the life force in three months.”

“No!” Piccolo opened his eyes as he was forced out. He gasped, he was back in the room with the other Namekians who were staring at them in shock. Piccolo felt power behind him and turned to see Gohan was glowing green. “Gohan!” 

“This has never happened before.” One of the healers backed away horrified. 

“The dragon stopped the bond.” Piccolo growled letting them know what happened. He reached out and touched Gohan’s shoulder and immediately the glowing and energy stopped. Gohan’s eyes shot open and he fell forward panting for air. 

“What? Piccolo?” He reached for the Namekian and Piccolo grabbed his hand. 

“I’m here.” Piccolo pulled him close. “I’m sorry.”

“Did that really happen?” Gohan’s whole body was trembling. He could feel the dragon taking his energy even more now but he was keeping his promise and only taking a little at a time. “Is that thing really inside me?”

“Yeah, I can feel his energy even now.” Piccolo realized they were both covered in sweat and out of breath. He was exhausted. 

“I’m sorry.” Elder Mori was there kneeling next to them. “If the dragon will not allow the bond then there is nothing else we can do.” 

“I’m starting to get that.” Gohan chuckled shakily. 

“Gohan! Piccolo!” Everyone flinched as King Kai’s voice came in. “I don’t know what you were doing before but I’ve been trying to contact you. There’s trouble on earth.”

“Who is that?” One of the Namekians looked up. 

“King Kai, what’s happening?” Gohan let Piccolo help him to his feet but he felt absolutely drained right now. 

“The Earth is in trouble! And your father and Vegeta can’t stop it.”

XXX


	4. Sacrifice and Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gohan makes a decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Beta!

“Gohan sit down and let the healers look at you.” Piccolo growled again at the teen who was pacing back and forth. Gohan was strung tight in agitation and Piccolo could tell he wanted to punch something but he was also being followed by two Namekian healers who were worried and trying to get him to sit down. King Kai’s news was not good. 

“Please boy let me look at you. I don’t know what an interrupted bonding could have done to you and your body.” An older Namekian got in Gohan’s path and Piccolo tensed, but it was unnecessary. Gohan deflated and sat down right where he was at. The healers around him sighed in relief and began to focus on him. 

“King Kai we have no way of getting to Earth.” Piccolo started up the conversation again. “The fastest ship here would take two weeks for us to get there and it would be too late.” 

“I wouldn’t have called you if I didn’t have an idea!” The Kai huffed at their lack of faith in him. He used to be impressive and get respect. “Now listen. I can’t come get you but I can teach one of you the Instant Transmission, telepathically. It might not work but I think this is the best chance we’ll get.” 

“You can do that?” Piccolo asked surprised and Gohan looked over at him. 

“I think it’s worth a shot.” King Kai said urgently. “Or you take a ship and have to deal with these guys on your own. The technology they have seems to have been made to suppress Saiyan energy. It works in ways I’ve never seen before and because of that Goku, Vegeta, Trunks and Goten are in big trouble. And they’re still after Gohan!”

“Okay, let’s try.” Gohan stood up. He looked a lot better than he had a moment ago. Piccolo sighed thankful, he had been worried that the dragon’s form change would incapacitate Gohan more. He shook his head at Gohan. 

“No, you’re going to stay here. You can’t fight, what will we do if the dragon takes more energy and shortens your time.” Piccolo was surprised when a fist grabbed his gi and pulled him so he was eye level with a very angry Gohan. 

“Muling and I have an agreement. He’s giving me the three months.” Gohan’s hand was shaking and Piccolo realized it was rage and worry. “I’m going with you to save my family and I’m going to kill the people hurting them.”

“Alright. I’m sorry.” Piccolo put his hands over Gohan’s and the teen seemed to relax slightly. He should have known Gohan wouldn’t have stood for that, he wouldn’t have either. “King Kai, how is this going to work?” 

“I’m going to help the both of you do it, first we’re going to focus on Earth. Because I’m here, you’re going to go straight there. There’s a chance you won’t be able to do it afterwards though so I’m going to send you to the Lookout with Dende. Now concentrate with me and let me know when you feel his energy.” King Kai instructed, Piccolo kept Gohan’s hand in his as he searched for Dende’s energy. He could feel King Kai leading them to the Earth, they wouldn’t have been able to feel it from here if they didn’t have him. 

“I got him.” Piccolo announced and he could feel Gohan nod next to him. 

“Alright now stay focused on him, think of nothing else.” King Kai’s voice sounded almost far away but Piccolo did what he said. There was a strange pull on his energy and then they warped. Piccolo stumbled when they landed on the Lookout and Gohan caught him looking worried. 

“Piccolo?” 

“I’m sorry Piccolo I didn’t realize doing it that way was going to take so much of your energy.” King Kai spoke up. “But it worked, good job Piccolo!” 

“Are you alright?” Gohan held him up, Piccolo nodded. Gohan looked over at Dende and Mr.Popo who were running over. “King Kai? Where is everyone? Where’s my family?” 

“They’re energies must be too low now for me to see.” King Kai’s voice took on a sad tone. “But I’ll keep trying.”

“What are you doing back here?” Dende asked as he started giving Piccolo energy. “You were supposed to stay on New Namek! Goku wanted it that way!” 

“They couldn’t fix me Dende.” Gohan clenched his fists. “And there’s no way I’m letting these people take my family down with me.” Gohan stood up and started searching for anyone’s energy but he couldn’t feel his father, Vegeta, Goten or Trunks. Were they too late? What had happened? 

“They were fighting just a little while ago.” Dende stepped back from Piccolo to let him stand. “They have some strange technology that’s helping them.”

“King Kai told us.” Piccolo nodded in thanks to Dende. “Do you know where they are now?” 

“I haven’t been able to sense their lair but I believe it’s south of West City. They always head that direction before I lose them.” Dende frowned. “I’m sorry, whatever they’re using to cloak themselves must be really good. But I could still feel everyone a second ago, I do believe they are alive.” 

“They’re probably going to keep them alive so they can find me.” Gohan’s fists shook. 

“Gohan we need a plan.” Piccolo grabbed his shoulder. Gohan looked at him worried. “We should call the others, if the weapons are aimed at Saiyan energy then we might be able to surprise them.” 

“Or they could just get killed.” Gohan looked back at the Earth below. 

“Gohan they would want to fight too.” Piccolo forced him to make eye contact. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to fix your situation with the dragon inside of you but you can rely on us to help with our friends and family.” Gohan looked at Piccolo surprised before deflating. Piccolo grabs his arm and pulls him closer, thankful the teen seems to be calming down. 

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Gohan shook his head. 

“No need to be sorry, you’ve been having a pretty rough couple of days.” Piccolo let go of Gohan’s arm.

“No I mean, I’m sorry Piccolo.” 

Piccolo turned confused before he saw Gohan move, there was a sharp pain to the back of his neck and everything went black. 

“Gohan!” Dende looked at him shocked as he helped Piccolo to the ground. “What are you doing?” 

“Dende, take care of him alright? We weren’t able to fix my problem with the dragon but I think I can use to dragon to save everyone and kill these aliens.” Gohan gently touched Piccolo’s cheek. “He wouldn’t like it but ... I’m going to die anyway. I love him, make sure he knows that alright? And I know I’m being completely selfish right now but ... I think I can make sure I’m the only casualty so I’m going to do it.” Gohan doesn’t fight the tears as he leans over Piccolo, memorizing his face because this will probably be the last time he sees it. He clamps down the regret of his decision, the hate of his own selfish will. He bites back a sob. “Dende please ... before you wake him up, wait ten minutes. Do it for me.”

“Gohan there has to be another way. Call the others! Krillin!” Dende grabbed his arm. “You know he would want to spend your final months together. This is going to kill him.”

“No just me.” Gohan pulled away. “Sorry Dende.” He ran and jumped off the side of the Lookout. He didn’t have much time, he had to go and find the hideout before Dende woke Piccolo up, if he even waited the ten minutes Gohan asked for. Gohan nudged the dragon’s energy inside of him. “Muling can you hear me?”

“I see your plan.” The dragon answers inside of his head and the sensation is dizzying, Gohan has to right himself before he crashes. “If this is done, I will take everything today and you will no longer have time.”

“If this helps me save my family then it’s worth it.” Gohan bites his lip. Tears stinging his eyes, he wanted a better goodbye with Piccolo. He wanted to spend time with him, he wanted those three months to see how things could have been. But he also knew that there was a chance that Piccolo could die in this fight if it was too much for his father. “Please.” He pleads the dragon. “Please help me.” 

There is silence for a while and Gohan worries that Muling won’t. He’s already passing West City before he hears a response.

“I understand and I accept your proposal. No matter what by the end of this battle I will be formed.” And Gohan is both thankful and sick. He nods his head because he can’t speak around the sadness in his throat and then suddenly a green glow surrounds him and he boosts his own energy, bringing it to the level it was brought to by the Kais. He can feel the dragon’s energy around him consuming and melding with his but also giving it back.

The power was overwhelming but he had expected it to be. 

Gohan grit his teeth and searched for anyone’s energy and with dragon’s energy combined with his he could! He could feel his father, Vegeta, Goten and Trunks! He flew straight toward it as fast as he could. It didn’t take long for him to see their ship, it did have some sort of cloaking device but the way the sun was hitting it ... something ... there was some way he could see it. Gohan wondered if it was the dragon’s energy for a second before he crashed on top of it sending it into the ground and busting a hole through the middle. No matter what, the aliens were not going to retreat.

He looked around the room he landed in, totally destroyed now but he could feel his brother’s energy nearby along with Trunks. He ran towards it, breaking a hole in the wall with energy instead of looking for a door. The dragon’s flame around him laughed and danced, pleased with the destruction they were causing. They aliens were going to pay for what they did to him. It took going through a few more rooms and making two more holes before he found the two boys being guarded by one of the red aliens. The boy. 

“How did you get in here?” The boy took a fighting stance. Goten and Trunks were behind him wrapped in strange metal binding and inside a cage. Goten smiled at the sight of his older brother. 

“Gohan! You’re here!” Goten struggled with his restraints.

“Be careful Gohan, they have this weird weapon, it totally drains you!” Trunks yelled as the alien held up his hand. There was a small mechanism in his palm. 

“I can take all of your Saiyan Zeno energy.” Aji smirked before using his other hand to pull out a metal cube. “You’re our host aren’t you? I almost didn’t recognize you. You are going to make us a great dragon with all that ener-ack!!”

Gohan had his hand on his throat and lifted him up, the man smirked grabbing his arm with the draining mechanism but Gohan noticed nothing happened. He smirked back up at him and Aji looked at him in shock.

“Gohan! He hurt mom!” Goten screamed from the his spot in the cage. “I don’t know if she’s okay.” His little brother had tears in his eyes and Gohan saw fire. 

Why wouldn’t these people leave his family alone?

He would make an example of them. 

No one would mess with the Son family again. 

“Why isn’t it working? You’re part Saiyan! It worked on these brats!” He struggled against Gohan’s hold. He threw his metal cube at Gohan but the teen used his free hand to hit it away before he put power behind his fist and punched as hard as he could, he looked up to see his fist through the guy’s middle and blood falling out of his mouth. The alien looked at him surprised. 

“But ... I ... “ Aji gasped before going limp. Gohan dropped his body to the floor panting, he was already feeling the burn of the dragon’s energy. His body wasn’t meant for this. He turned to Trunks and Goten who were watching him wide-eyed. 

“Are you guys okay?” His voice came out with a small growl to it. Gohan couldn’t think about that right now. He had a time limit and he didn’t know if the dragon would actually wait for him to kill all of the aliens. 

“Gohan!!.” Goten grinned as Gohan broke open the cage and he was thankfully able to break off their bindings without hurting them. He had been a little worried about the dragon’s energy burning them. Trunks gave him a look. 

“What’s wrong with your energy?” Trunks asked lifting an eyebrow. “You have fangs ... and you look different.”

“Don’t worry about that right now, get off the ship.” Gohan moved to leave but Goten grabbed his arm.

“Did they fix you? On New Namek?” Goten’s voice was thick with worry and Gohan paused before shaking his head. 

“Goten, Trunks. You need to get off this ship, for me. I’m going to get our Dad and Vegeta.” Gohan ruffled their hair. 

“Okay but be careful!” Goten pushed his hand away. 

“If you need help just let us know, we’ll fuse!” Trunk offered and Gohan smiled before moving down the hall. His father was closer than Vegeta but Vegeta’s energy was fluctuating in a weird way. Gohan frowned but kept going, the damage he was doing to the ship, it was probably going to explode soon and they needed to be off of it. 

“You! Where is my brother?” The red girl came out of a room ahead of him with a gun in her hand. Her hands were shaking and she looked angry. Gohan felt his energy fluctuate and he stumbled using the wall to catch himself, the breath knocked out of him. His energy was almost fully converted to the dragons. 

“He’s dead.” Gohan glared at her, she screamed and started shooting her gun. He put up his hand to block with an energy barrier and walked towards her. “I don’t ... have time ... for this.” He hissed and pushed back, the barrier knocked her back through the door she came out of. Gohan stepped over her body into the room where his father was hanging on a wall. Goku looked up at his son in shock. 

“Gohan, what’s happening to you?” Gohan yanked the things down holding his father up and Goku fell over and Gohan helped him up, his father was in worse shape than he thought. It looked like they had been torturing him ... Gohan cursed himself for not grabbing any sensu beans. 

“I don’t have much time. Goten and Trunks are outside and I killed the other red one. You should go outside too while I get Vegeta.” Gohan moved to go back to the woman but his father grabbed him forcing them face to face. 

“Gohan, is this the dragon? What did you do?” Goku asked, his voice in a harsh whisper. “Your energy ... it’s almost all gone! Do you even know what you look like right now?” 

“I’m ending this.” Gohan smiled at his father sadly. 

“Where’s Piccolo?” Goku kept a tight hold on his shoulders. 

“I left him at the Lookout.” Gohan pulled away trying not to think of that. “I don’t have a lot of time left dad. Their machines are against Saiyan energy ... I don’t have to worry about that anymore.” He walked over to the woman he could sense she was still alive but barely. 

“Gohan stop!” His hand stopped before he could blast her with energy, he looked back at his dad. The dragon hissed displeased. 

“Go get Vegeta.” Goku fell to his knees and Gohan looked at her. “The strong ones ... it’s the two with Vegeta. Don’t kill her like that ... she can’t defend herself.” Gohan wanted to tell his father he was being stupid. They needed to die or else it would happen again but the power fluctuated again and this time a burst of energy shot out of him destroying the room even more. Gohan wheezed, his energy was so low. What happened when it was all the dragon’s?

He stepped out into the hallway again and the ship exploded. 

Gohan braced himself before realizing the dragon’s flames had acted like a barrier and protected him. He turned back to look at where his father had been. Goku was picking himself up, Gohan didn’t see the woman and he didn’t care if she survived. 

“Fuck.” Gohan turned again and he saw Vegeta standing, there was a sword piercing his middle. It was Vegeta that made the ship explode, not Gohan’s damage to it. Vegeta staggered before falling to his knees and Gohan was by his side in an instant. 

“Vegeta?” He touched the sword hand but it burned, he immediately pulled his hand away. What was that? The dragon’s flames flickered at it angrily. 

“Gohan ... you’ve changed.” Vegeta looked up at him before coughing up some blood. “It’s just a scratch. I guess they weren’t able to save you?” 

“No but I can save you guys.” Gohan smiled. “Goten and Trunks are fine.” Vegeta nodded, thankful for the news before his eyes went wide. The dragon’s energy gave him a warning and Gohan turned just in time for the sword to miss his body but he cried out in pain as his left arm fell to the floor. Gohan felt the surprise from the dragon as he looked over at his attacker. There was an orange alien with the sword and behind him was a larger pink alien who had obviously been in a fight ... probably with Vegeta. 

“It’s the host.” The pink one said in awe. 

“Good, now we have no more use for the Saiyans. We should kill them now Prince Maguro.” The orange one swung his sword again at Gohan but he dodged and flew back trying to bring the man away from Vegeta. If the sword burned at the touch he didn’t want to know what if felt like stuck inside of your stomach. Gohan fell the dragon’s energy on his now stump of an arm, he looked over to see the bleeding slowing down. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about bleeding out before he turned into a dragon and died. 

“You know I didn’t ask that red guy before I killed him.” Gohan growled trying to distract them. “But I would love to know whose idea it was to come here. Who made that mistake?”

“You fool, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Your people deserves this and ten times more to happen to you!” The Toro hissed. “You destroyed our race! It’s only fitting that we use your body as sacrifice so we may rebuild ourselves! You belong to us and your life will end soon so you should stop this fight!”

Gohan kept dodging the sword as the man swung it with purpose. The pink man, Prince Maguro, seemed intent on watching their fight instead of moving towards Vegeta so Gohan shifted his attention back to the orange one. He grabbed a bar of debri off the ground and threw it at him before using his speed to vanish. Toro hit the bar slicing it in half before dropping the sword as Gohan kicked him in the back sending him flying into a mountain nearby. 

“Toro!” Prince Maguro cried. Gohan turned to him and the prince ran over to Vegeta grabbing the sword but before he could pull it out Gohan rushed over and grabbed his hand pulling it away. “No!”

“You’re the prince, their leader?” Gohan twisted the larger man’s arm breaking it. “Your first mistake was seeking revenge without doing your research. The Saiyans are dead.” Gohan kept his hold on the broken arm and kicked the man’s leg causing him to fall to one need. “Your second mistake was attacking my friends and family.” Gohan growled kicking his other leg so the man was on both knees. “Your last mistake was taking my life away, so I’m going to take yours!” 

Gohan raised his one arm up feeling it with energy as the Prince stared at him in pain and horror. All of this was too easy with the dragon’s energy, Gohan noted. He had expected more of a fight but they truly had aimed all of their technology against the Saiyans ... and he didn’t count as one anymore. He was going to kill this man and then his life was going to be over. He’d no longer exist, he wouldn’t even go into the Other World. He didn’t stop the tears from falling from his eyes. 

He wouldn’t get his life with Piccolo.

“I’m sorry Piccolo.” Gohan moved his hand and ... searing hot pain. It hurt. 

It hurt so much. 

He felt warm blood fall from his mouth. 

He looked down at his chest so see a sword going through it, right through his heart. 

The orange alien, Toro was behind him laughing maniacally. 

The energy that had been in his hand shot into the air, misfiring as pain consumed his body. 

“Gohan!” 

That wasn’t his father’s voice. 

Gohan fell to his knees. 

The dragon’s energy whirled around him, flaring as if angered but Gohan found he couldn’t feel what the dragon was feeling anymore. It was as if he was numb to everything but the pain. Or maybe the dragon was burning him again with the sword. He looked at Prince Maguro in front of him who was staring at him in fear.

“Hurry up and give us our dragon!” Toro twisted the sword in his back and Gohan coughed up more blood. “And then we’ll destroy your whole planet with a wish! It will be that easy!” 

No. 

Gohan wasn’t going to allow that to happen. 

He was not going to let this man destroy Earth or his family! He had made the deal with the dragon to save everyone and that’s what he was going to do! He had limited his life to a final few hours and he wasn’t going to let it go like this. He growled pulling all and energy he had left, he would take Muling’s energy if he had to! 

Not like this! 

“Gohan!”

“Piccolo you can’t get near him right now!” 

Gohan hadn’t realized he had closed his eyes until he opened them at the sound of Krillin and Piccolo. He looked over and saw Piccolo being held back by Krillin and his father. Gohan found himself thankful for one more chance to look at the man he loved. 

Sad the expression on Piccolo’s face was contorted with shock and worry.

Gohan wondered what he must look like.

He stood up. 

“No!” Toro twisted the hilt of the sword again and tried to pull Gohan down but he was in so much pain it was almost as if couldn't’ feel it. He pulled energy into his only hand again as Prince Maguro got to his feet too and started backing away. Gohan used his speed to force Toro to let go of the sword, the second he did the teen turned and shot him with the blast of energy, he kept going until the other man disintegrated in the blast, a look of shock on his face. 

Gohan panted for air, just one more. He could do this. One more. 

“Don’t come any closer!” Gohan turned and saw the pink man had pulled his sword out of Vegeta who was now bleeding pretty heavily on the ground. “Stay away!”

“You’re the one that was looking for me. You’re the one that hurt us.” Gohan glared walking forward. “Here I am! Your dragon! Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“No! No it’s not what I wanted!” The man backed away but Gohan still caught up to him. 

“Then what did you want?” Gohan grabbed his clothes and pulling him close. The man smirked before driving his sword through Gohan’s chest with the other one. He hadn’t been able to block it without his left arm.

“I want you to die! I don’t care if we all die here, the last of my race, I will die proud.” The prince spat on Gohan’s face and Gohan staggered back. The second sword doubled his pain Gohan moved back but the pink man kept his hand on the sword and twisted it, Gohan cried out. His power was fluctuating. 

He was pure dragon energy now, there was nothing left of him other than his life force. 

He could feel the dragon wanting to take it and form. 

It was probably the only reason he was alive. 

Everything was going fuzzy. 

He was dying. 

He wanted to look at Piccolo again. 

He hoped the others would take the prince down ... well at least the Earth would have two sets of dragon balls now. They always did seem to be in some form of danger so maybe it would help.

Gohan wanted to cry. 

“I love you mother, I’m sorry I never got to be the scholar we dreamed of together.”

“I love you father, I’m sorry I didn’t save the day.”

“I love you Goten. Take care of our parents.” 

Gohan’s vision was black and he wondered if any of the words were coming out or if he was thinking them all in his head. 

“I love you Piccolo.” 

God he loved Piccolo. They had only been together for a few weeks.

Why?

Why did it have to be this way?

Gohan felt the dragon pressed against him and he finally let go. He was tired. So tired. 

XXX

 

Piccolo watched horrified. Gohan’s body had gone limp with the pink’ alien’s hand still on the sword going through his chest and then a green burst of energy had come out of Gohan’s body. 

It was terrifying. 

Gohan’s energy was completely gone.

Gohan was dead and he was becoming the dragon. 

“No!” Piccolo fell to his knees watching what was happening to the only person he had ever loved.

Not Gohan.

Gohan never deserved any of this.

It should have been him. 

“Guys! Look!” Krillin’s voice could barely be heard over the roar of energy, green and flickering wildly. Piccolo looked over to Gohan and the pink alien to see Gohan’s arm move and grab Prince Maguro who was yelling. He realized Gohan’s mouth was moving but even he couldn’t hear it. 

Gohan’s face was contorted so much it barely looked like him, sharp teeth and smoke billowing out of his mouth. His eyes were yellow and surrounded by dark circles. There was laughter, Piccolo could hear it faintly, laughter coming from the transforming body was Prince Maguro struggled with the hold it had on him, every movement from Gohan’s body was unnatural, irregular ... it looked wrong. Piccolo couldn’t look away as both of them were consumed by green flames. 

He felt the hands holding him back loosen and he pulled himself away before they could grab him again. He didn’t know why but he needed to be closer, he needed to see what was happening. 

“Piccolo no!” Goku called after him but Piccolo knew the man was still feeling the effects of being tortured even after a sensu bean. The technology the aliens had had was effective against the man. Piccolo braced himself flying towards the green flame. The closer he got the hotter it was, searing his clothes and trying to push him away. 

And then it stopped. 

He almost fell out of the sky at the change. His body trembled feeling chilled with the lack of heat. Below him he saw Gohan’s body, Prince Maguro was nowhere to be found. Vegeta was a little was away and Piccolo wondered if he got caught up in the flames but then he saw the man move, he returned his attention back to Gohan and flew down. 

Gohan’s clothes he had been wearing were torn or burned. His body was so pale ... Piccolo fell to his knees putting a hand on Gohan’s chest. The swords were gone, on the ground towards Gohan’s feet and his chest was healed. Must have been a side effect of the dragon’s energy. Piccolo realized he was trembling, he gripped the fabric of the teens torn shirt, tears welling in his eyes. 

Gohan was gone. 

They were supposed to have three months. 

“Gohan ... why?” Piccolo leaned over the body, tears falling freely. Why didn’t he wait? Why had he knocked Piccolo out. He knew why in the back of his mind but Piccolo didn’t think it was good enough. Not if the price was this ... nothing was worth it. 

He punched the ground angrily, needing to release the aggression building up inside of him. He could feel the other’s coming over, Krillin going over to Vegeta with a sensu bean. 

Goku landed on the other side of his son’s body, he got to his knees and pushed the hair from Gohan’s face. Piccolo saw his hand was shaking as well but he couldn’t bring himself to look Goku in the eyes. 

He hadn’t protected his son. 

“No!” Goten ran over grabbing Gohan’s shirt and shaking it. “Gohan wake up! Please! You saved us, you have to wake up!” 

Goku put a hand on his youngest son’s back as the boy cried over his brother. 

Piccolo knew he should give the family a moment with the body but he couldn’t leave Gohan’s side again. He wasn’t supposed to let him out of his sight. Goten moved to hug his father as they cried together. Piccolo looked over at Gohan’s missing arm, part of him was surprised it hadn’t healed like the other wounds but he also knew humans couldn’t regenerate knew parts of themselves. 

Everyone else stood around them, letting the quiet around them help them mourn. 

“It’s not fair.” Goten sobbed. “He saved us.”

Piccolo flinched as he felt a spark. 

He looked up at Goku who looked at him surprised before everyone was pushed away by the teen’s body by a shockwave. It was almost like what had happened at the river except this wave was so much stronger. Piccolo grit his teeth fighting against it. 

Then lightning fell from the sky and hit Gohan’s body. 

And then it was gone just as quickly as it came but ... the body was still there. Piccolo frowned, was the dragon leaving them something to bury? Was it done now?

“Gohan!” Goten yelled from his father’s hold. 

Then Piccolo saw it, Gohan shifted. 

“Hn.” The body let out a groan and Piccolo didn’t realize he had moved until he was helping the teen sit up. 

“Gohan?” Piccolo put his hand on the teen’s chest again and there was a heart beat. “Gohan?!” 

“GOHAN!” Goten and Goku were there, Goku seemed hesitant to touch his son, as if touching him would make everything break again. 

“I was ...” Gohan moved his right hand to his chest. “The swords? The dragon?” He blinked up at everyone and they gasped. His eyes were green. He was moving sluggish and his words had a slur his hand went to where his left arm used to be. “My arm?”

“Gohan you’re alive!” Goku grabbed his son’s shoulders and pulled him into a hug. 

“But ... I was gone.” Gohan couldn’t fight against his father’s hold. Goten was sobbing against him too. “I didn’t exist anymore.” It had been strange ... he had been nothing and then there had be a spark. He felt like his body had been fried, he didn’t want to move but he had to. 

He needed to. 

His father helped him to sit up, Gohan was thankful because without his other arm he was finding it hard to balance. 

“How are you still alive?” Krillin was there wiping his face with a laugh. “Gohan you were gone!”

“Are the aliens ... are they gone?” Gohan tried to look around. 

“They’re gone.” Piccolo offered and Gohan swerved to look at him, his now green eyes staring at him surprised. The movement made the teen unsteady but it didn’t matter, he reached for Piccolo and Piccolo grabbed his hand pulling him close. 

“Piccolo I ...” Gohan gripped Piccolo’s gi with his only hand. “I’m alive?” He looked at the Namekian wide-eyed. “I’m really alive?” Tears welled up in his eyes. 

Piccolo lifted a hand to Gohan’s cheek, “You’re alive, I don’t know why but I don’t want to question it.” 

“The boy ...” Everyone turned to Vegeta who came closer with Trunks at his side. “When the boy was covered in flames, you said you only needed one life.”

Gohan looked at him confused before he felt pain in his stomach, it moved up to his chest. He hissed curling in on himself. There was something lodged in his throat. 

“Gohan!?” Everyone started but he shook his head, choking on the thing in his throat. He felt someone rub his back and then it dislodged and hit the ground. 

Gohan stared at the small dragon ball that had just come out of him and then he was coughing again, his mouth dripping drool as he released each dragon ball from inside of him. This was painful yet as each one came out he felt temporary relief until the next one started.

“He’s spitting out dragon balls!” Krillin watched freaking out. “GUYS!?”

“You can do this.” Piccolo kept rubbing Gohan’s back and tried to keep the teen balances as he coughed up each ball. Gohan’s tail was limp behind him but thumped the ground as each ball was released. 

Gohan’s eyes were watering as he stared at the six balls that had come out of him, they were smaller than the Earth dragon balls, the size of jaw breakers. He could hardly believe it, he gagged as he felt the seventh and last one in his throat. He wheezed before he felt a presence in his mind. 

“I only needed one life, I decided to spare yours.” It was Muling’s voice. Gohan had so many questions running through his mind but the main one that came up was why? He shook his head, erasing all his thoughts. If this was going to be the last thing he said to the dragon that had been living inside of him, he only had one thing in mind. 

“Thank you.” He sent mentally before coughing around the ball, it dislodged and immediately the connection ceased. It was as if part of him went with the seventh and final ball, he felt hollow. No longer did he have the flame in his gut or the dragon’s power ... he stared at the seven balls that began to glow, he let Piccolo pull him so he was sitting up as the dragon balls shot to the sky in a light before dispersing across the globe. 

Gohan tried to wipe at his mouth but his whole body was shaking, he couldn’t control it. Exhaustion was pulling him down but he needed ..

“Gohan?” Piccolo asked worried, Gohan gave him a small smile grabbing the Namekians gi and pulling him, with the strength he could muster, into a kiss. Gohan knew he was probably still crying and his mouth was covered in spit from the dragon balls but he needed to kiss Piccolo. He needed, Piccolo kissed him back and held him up. Gohan sighed happily pulling away. 

“What!?” He heard Yamcha in the background but pushed it away. Looking up at Piccolo. 

“I love you.” He whispered trying to keep his eyes open. “I’m going to sleep now.”

“Gohan?” Piccolo’s worried face was the last thing he saw before he fell into slumber. 

XXX

He woke up a few days later at the Lookout. Completely healed and alive. His energy seemed to be stuck on low but Dende said that it would eventually even out with time. Gohan looked at his reflection in the mirror, green eyes and sharp fangs, along with his tail he really was starting to look more alien. And he was still getting used to having one arm, he was still trying to think of a way to explain it to his school. He smiled. 

But he was alive. 

He had been happy he killed the aliens when he saw the state his mother and Bulma had been in when he first woke up. They had healing bruises all over their bodies but Bulma had kissed his forehead as his mother cried with her arms around him. Bulma was throwing a party to the success of the aliens dying and Gohan being alive. And Gohan learned of everyone he killed had been revived as Porunga had wished. 

He looked over as Piccolo stopped in the doorway to lean against the frame. “Your family just left to take all their stuff home. They said they would see you at Bulma’s but you had to come home tonight.”

“Alright.” Gohan smiled leaning up against Piccolo. They had talked the first night he had woken up while everyone else was sleeping. Talked between frantic kisses and touching to make sure that this was real. Gohan still kept touching Piccolo whenever he was in reach, worried but the Namekian seem to understand and never commented on it. Piccolo had been mad at Gohan for knocking him out but knew he would have done the same thing. Gohan had agreed to let Piccolo have the first much the next time they sparred causing the Namekian to chuckle before pulling him into a kiss. “Well we have a little time before the party, I still can’t do much other than fly.” Gohan had been so thankful he could still fly but making energy blasts was impossible. He leered at Piccolo. “Want to do something else?”

“We should probably stop doing that stuff at the Lookout. Dende has Namekian hearing.” Piccolo said with a blush and Gohan flushed red with a laugh. He wondered if Dende had said something. 

“We should probably apologize.” He put his hand over his mouth. 

“Or never talk about it again.” Piccolo gruffed embarrassed. 

“You want to go somewhere else?” Gohan moved to lean against Piccolo’s chest, enjoying the warmth. Winter was trying to end but it was still pretty chilly. Gohan sighed, “Somewhere warm?”

“Actually ...” Piccolo was still blushing but his face went serious. Gohan blinked at him. “Come with me.”

“Alright.” Gohan followed him as they left the Lookout with one embarrassed wave to Dende before they took off. Gohan smiled as Piccolo kept a slow pace to stay with him. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll figure it out.” Piccolo huffed and Gohan watched the scenery for a few minutes before realizing they were heading towards his house. He looked to Piccolo’s back wondering what he was up to. The Namekian turned as if feeling his gaze, “We made a deal ... if we both lived ...” 

Gohan’s eyes widened when they stopped a small ways away from his house, there was a new Capsule home in the woods. He immediately flew down with Piccolo following him. “Is this ...”

“I asked Bulma about it ... and your father chose the place.” Piccolo spoke softly behind him and Gohan grabbed him pulling him into a kiss. “If you want something different let me know ...” Piccolo panted out after. 

“This is perfect.” Gohan kissed his neck pulled him toward the house, wishing he had two hands so he could keep one on Piccolo but he used the one he had to open the door. 

“You haven’t looked around.” Piccolo mumbled amused but not stopping him as Gohan gripped his clothes again. Gohan pulled away from kissing him to look around. 

“Room?” He asked and then laughed when Piccolo huffed before picking him up and carrying him in the right direction. Gohan decided since he didn’t have to concentrate on kissing and walking now he could focus on kissing and helping Piccolo out of his clothes. He the only thing he could easily get off was the belt with one hand but then Piccolo was throwing him down on the bed and Gohan laughed and started working on his own clothes. 

Still learning how to maneuver with one arm, his clothes were pretty easy to take off. He was glad he thought about that as he slid off his sweatpants, he looked up as Piccolo climbed over him and helped him out of his boxers. Piccolo kissed him and shifted them so they were more on the bed and used the pillows to help prop Gohan up before pulling him into a kiss again. 

“This is our home.” Gohan was still awed, his heart pounding. Piccolo sucked on his neck but hummed in agreement. “This is our bed.” 

“Eventually I’d like it if you looked at the rest of the house.” Piccolo smirked amused “How are you feeling? Your energy is still pretty low.” He kiss Gohan’s shoulder. 

“I’m pretty aroused.” Gohan panted earning a laugh against his skin. “I ... didn’t think this would ... I don’t know. I’m so happy Piccolo. I ... I’m not dreaming right?” 

“It’s real.” Piccolo pulled him into a kiss and Gohan used his hand to keep the man there, trying to put his emotions into the kiss. Part of him wondered if he’d ever be able to fully communicate how Piccolo made him feel, maybe if they were up for it they could try the bond again but he didn’t know if the Namekian would be up for it so Gohan tried in his own way. With the press of his fingers onto the green skin. Pressing his tongue into the other man’s mouth, being careful with his new fangs. He could feel his tail wrapping around Piccolo’s waist and the man pulled away with a curious look, Gohan would have blushed if he wasn’t already doing it. 

“What do you want?” Piccolo whispered against his mouth, one of his hands softly stroking Gohan’s erecting causing the teen to shiver. 

“I want you in me, like on Namek.” Gohan panted, “I need you ...”

Piccolo let out a low growl and Gohan shivered when the man reached into a draw in the table next to the bed and pulled out a bottle of lube. Gohan thought about asking questions but decided they could wait, he wanted to watch Piccolo run the show. Piccolo scooted down putting lube in his hand and it didn’t take long for one long finger to be pressing into his entrance, Gohan bit his lip. Piccolo looked up at him before leaning his head forward and taking his erection into his mouth. 

“Piccolo!” Gohan grabbed the sheets with his only hand trying not to thrust into the other man’s mouth. Piccolo inserted another finger while sucking and taking his mouth off his dick to lick up the side of it. Gohan bucked his hips panting and Piccolo smirked at him before taking it back in his mouth again. Gohan could feel his fingers moving inside him and stretching him out, it felt so much better with Piccolo’s fingers he decided. He’d never be able to masterbate alone again. 

Piccolo ruined it in the best way. 

He bucked his hips again when Piccolo found the spot inside of him that made him see stars. He cried out as the Namekian kept pressing against it over and over again. His body trembled at the treatment and Gohan tried to hold back, to last but then there was a third lubed up finger sliding in easily and he cried out a warning thrusted up into Piccolo’s mouth coming.

The Namekian spit it out into his hand before rubbing it on the bed. Gohan sluggishly reached of him and Piccolo easily came to him, kissing him on the mouth. Gohan tasted himself on the man’s lips and sighed happily. “You know you don’t have to let me come in your mouth if you don’t like the tasted.” 

“It’s not that ...” Piccolo kissed him again. “I just don’t know what could happen if I swallow it.” He noticed Gohan’s confused look. “I have the ability to create eggs inside of myself for children.” He offered. “They come out of my throat.” 

“Oh ... OH!” Gohan looked at him wide-eyed. “You think I could get you pregnant with an egg?” He asked bewildered. 

“I don’t know.” Piccolo blushed. “I haven’t ... asked Dende yet ...” Gohan grinned and kissed him before moving his mouth down to Piccolo’s throat. He suddenly had the urge to try and leave marks on him, he bit and sucked. The noise Piccolo made seemed to appreciate the attention. 

“We can talk to him later... right now ...” Gohan shifted against the Namekian, there were fingers still inside of him and he was ready for the next step. Piccolo got the hint removing his fingers and wrapping Gohan’s legs around his waist. Gohan grinned up using his one hand to hold onto Piccolo’s shoulders as the Namekian’s erection pressed into him. 

Piccolo rolled his hips slow and pressing, gently. Always gentle. Gohan groaned as it filled him up, closing his eyes as Piccolo kissed his forehead, cheek and other parts of his face before landing on his lips again. It didn’t take long before Piccolo was fully inside him, they both trembled and Gohan’s had slipped off Piccolo’s back from the sweat that was forming between them. Gohan reached up to get another kiss before he started rocking his own hips to get Piccolo to start a pace. Piccolo growled against his lips before slamming into him. 

Gohan let out a moan trying to blink back the stars, “A-again..” He whispered and Piccolo complied. 

It was this, Gohan thought. This was the closest way they would be able to bond, their bodies connected he pushed against Piccolo’s mental barrier and the Namekian gave him a look before opening it and Gohan pushed in what he was feeling right now. The connection. The feel of their skin sliding against each others. The noises, the smells, the way it felt to be so full and when Piccolo hit that spot again he shared the feeling. Piccolo pulled him into a rough kiss as he stumbled over everything Gohan was feeling, he tried to send his own feelings back. Gohan felt the nudge and accepted it, how Piccolo felt being buried inside of him, what Gohan’s touches did to his body. It was intense and Gohan felt like the room was spinning, he held onto Piccolo the best he could as they kept going frantically holding on. Rough kisses and raw noises. 

Gohan didn’t know why but he didn’t fight the urge as he pulled himself up to lick at Piccolo’s throat before biting hard where it connected with his shoulder. The Namekian hissed thrusting into him a final time while Gohan licked at the wound he left behind. Piccolo nosed at his own throat and Gohan exposed it, wanting a mark in return and Piccolo complied. Fangs breaking the skin sent a jolt through his body and then he was coming between them while Piccolo licked at his throat. 

The Namekian pulled out and Gohan could feel the come leaking out of him. He reached up his only hand to touch at the mark on his neck. Their mental barriers were closed again but their bodies and minds still felt raw. Gohan grinned as Piccolo layed next to him. He reached over and touched the bite he left on Piccolo. “I hope that didn’t hurt to much.” He whispered, Piccolo grabbed his hand and kissed it. 

“No ... it was interesting. Yours?” Piccolo touched Gohan’s neck where he left his own bite. 

“Same.” Gohan smiled. “I was just thinking about how much I wish we had bonded but at the same time I don’t think we need to. I like that we have matching marks now though ...” Gohan held Piccolo’s hand. “I love you Piccolo.”

“I love you too.” Piccolo kissed the teen. “Do you want to take a shower?”

“Hn.” Gohan whined but got up. “Shower and then a tour of the house.” Gohan grinned as Piccolo pulled him to the bathroom. 

XXX

5 years later

XXX

“Theremin, don’t bother your father. He’s working.” Gohan blinked at Piccolo’s voice outside. He had thought that Piccolo was going to take Theremin over to his parent’s place. Chichi had been wanting more time the baby Namekian, her first grandchild. She kept saying first too ... Gohan chuckled nervously. 

“I want to show him what grandma made.” Theremin huffed and Gohan realized the boy had been able to fly into the window of his office. He put a hand over his mouth and looked at the paper he was working on. It could wait a little bit ... he wanted to take a peak. 

“Piccolo what do you think of this?” Gohan peaked out the window at the sound of his mother’s voice. She was holding up some fabric. Theremin smiled and flew over looking at it. 

“I like it!” The young boy smiled over at his Papa. Piccolo frowned but nodded and Gohan smiled watching them. 

“Well if you’re going to be starting preschool soon Theremin then we should make you some new outfits!” Chichi pulled out a book of sewing patterns and opened it up. Theremin flew to hover over her shoulder, his eyes curious. “Your father had something like this when he was little, what do you think?” 

“I like that too.” Theremin frowned before pointing at something on the page. “But I like that one more.” 

“I can make you both!” Chichi laughed putting the book down and grabbing the small Namekian into a hug. Theremin laughed at the coddling and Gohan looked over at Piccolo before realizing the man had walked over to the window and was looming over him. 

“Don’t you have a paper to write?” Piccolo loomed. Gohan laughed scratching his head, caught!

“I was just taking a little break, did something happen?” He asked curious as to why they had come over here. 

“Gohan! Sorry for intruding, Goten and Trunks are currently training with your father and Vegeta and you know how they can get. I thought it would be nice to come over here instead. Let me know when you’re finished and I’ll show you the new clothes I made for Theremin!” She giggled before pulling out more things and putting them on the table they had outside. Gohan looked at Piccolo nervously. 

“Theremin’s going to need a new closet. A warrior doesn’t need that many clothes.” Piccolo huffed. Gohan bit his lip to keep from saying anything, he knew Piccolo liked how Chichi spoiled their son.

“You want to meditate or are you keeping an eye on fabric patterns?” Gohan teased instead and Piccolo huffed. 

“Get back to work, you have a conference next week.” Piccolo leaned over and kissed Gohan’s mouth. Gohan smiled against it, sighing as he pulled away. “We’ll be out here.”

“I don’t have too much more, I’ll send it off and come join you guys.” Gohan promised before going back to his desk. 

It had been pretty peaceful for the past five years, there had been problems of course but nothing his father, Vegeta or Piccolo hadn’t been able to handle on their own. Gohan kept up with his training just in case, he didn’t want to fall behind just because he lost his arm. He had graduated school and University and was slowly working his way through the systems. 

It turned out that Piccolo couldn’t get pregnant if he swallowed Gohan’s cum but they had decided to have a baby three years ago right before Gohan started school. Namekian children were already different than human children but it had been an experience. And now they had a son. Gohan felt giddy thinking about it. How his life was ... how things had turned out. 

He was thankful for every moment they had. 

He knew it wouldn’t be peaceful forever but what they had now was perfect and they would work with whatever else was sent their way. 

XXX THE END XXX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG Thank everyone for reading this and giving it a chance! 
> 
> I started writing this Sept 20 and two weeks later almost had enough to finish a NaNoWriMo??? I'll admit I don't really like how the villains came out in the story but originally I had them as the Kais ... but then I started watching Super and it was too close?? to the arc going on now so I changed it but I'm really glad I did! 
> 
> I wrote a whole fic!! 
> 
> Right now I'm pretty obsessed with Piccohan so there might be more coming up <3


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